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BLIC  EDUCATION 
IN  NORTH  CAROLINA 


11 


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A  REPORT  TO  THB' .  ^  ^^ 

PUBLIC  SCHOOL  COMMlSSI©Np  ^  p  ^  ^ 
OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


GENERAL    EDUCATION    BOARD 

61  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK 
19      2       1 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  GENERAL 
EDUCATION  BOARD 

REPORTS: 

THE  GENERAL  EDUCATIOX  BOARD:  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  ITS 
ACTIVITIES,  1902-1914.  CLOTH,  240  PAGES,  WITH  33 
FULL-PAGE    ILLUSTRATIONS    AND     31     MAPS. 

ANNUAL  REPORTS: 

1914-1915;      1915-1916;      191S-1917;      1917-1918;      1918- 
1919;    1919-1920;    1920-1921. 
STUDIES: 

PUBLIC     EDUCATION      IN      MARYLAND,      BY      ABRAHAM     FLEX- 

NER    AND    FRANK    P.     BACHMAN. 
PUBLIC    EDUCATION    IN     DELAWARE. 
PUBLIC     EDUCATION     IN     NORTH     CAROLINA. 
PRIVATE    ENDOWMENT    AND     PUBLIC     EDUCATION A    REPORT 

ON   THE   USE    OF   THE    HANDLEY  FUND,    WINCHESTER,    VA. 
TEACHER     TRAINING     DEPARTMENTS     IN     MINNESOTA     HIGH 

SCHOOLS,     BY'    LOTUS    D.     COFFMAN. 
COLLEGE    AND    UNIVERSITY    FINANCE,    BY    TRE\'OR    ARNETT.* 

THE  SURVEY  OF  THE  GARY  SCHOOLS: 

THE    GARY     SCHOOLS:     A    GENERAL    ACCOUNT,    BY    ABRAHAM 

FLB3CNER    AND    FRANK    P.    BACHMAN. 
ORGANIZATION    AND    ADMINISTRATION,    BY'   GEORGE    D.    STRAY- 

ER   AND    FRANK    P.    BACHMAN. 
COSTS,    BY    FR^NK    P.    BACHMAN    AND    RALPH    BOWMAN. 
INDUSTRIAL   WORK,    BY   CHARLES    R.    RICHARDS. 
HOUSEHOLD     ARTS,     BY     EVA     W.     WHITE. 
PHYSICAL    TRAINING    AND    PLAY,     BY    LEE    F.     HANMER. 
SCIENCE    TEACHING,     BY    OTIS     W.     CALDWELL. 
MEASUREMENT     OF     CLASSROOM     PRODUCTS,     BY     STUART     A. 

COURTIS. 

OCCASIONAL    PAPERS: 

1.  THE    COUNTRY    SCHOOL    OF    TO-MORROW,     BY    FREDEajICK 

T.     GATES. 

2.  CHANGES     NEEDED     IN     AMERICAN     SECONDARY     EDUCA- 

TION,   BY    CHARLES    W.    ELIOT. 

3.  A    MODERN    SCHOOL.    BY    ABRAHAM    FLEXNER. 

4.  THE   FUNCTION    AND    NEEDS    OF    SCHOOLS    OF    EDUCATION 

IN      UNI\-ERSITIES      AND      COLLEGES,      BY      EDWIN      A. 
ALDERMAN. 

5.  LATIN    AND    THE   A.    B.    DEGREE,    BY    CHARLES    W.    ELIOT. 

6.  THE    WORTH    OF    ANCIENT    LITERATUTRE    TO    THE    MODERN 

WORLD,     BY     VISCOUNT     BRYCE. 

7.  teachers'      SALARIES      IN      AMERICAN      COLLEGES      AND 

UNIVERSITIES,     BY     TREVOR     ARNETT. 

*In   Preparation 

The  REPORTS  issued  by  the  Board  are  official  accounts  of  its 
activities  and  experditures.  The  STUDIES  represent  work  in  the 
field  of  educational  investigation  and  research  which  the  Board  has 
made  possible  by  appropriations  defraving:  all  or  part  of  the 
expense  involved.  The  OCCASIONAL  "PAPERS  are  essays  on 
niatters  of  current  educational  discussion,  presenting  topics  of 
immediate  interest  from  various  points  of  view.  In  issuiuK  the 
STUDIES  and  OCCASIONAL  PAPERS,  the  Board  acts  simply 
as  publisher,  r.ssuming  no  responsibility  for  the  opinions  of  the 
authors. 

Any  publication  of  the  Board  may  be  obtained  on  request. 


PUBLIC  EDUCATION 
IN  NORTH  CAROLINA 


A  REPORT  TO  THE 

PUBLIC  SCHOOL  COMMISSION 

OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY  THE 
STATE  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  EDUCATION 


GENERAL    EDUCATION     BOARD 

61  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK 

19       2       1 


A 


'J 


CONTENTS 

Pages 

Preface vii 

Introduction ix 

PART     I.  THE   SCHOOLS    AS   THEY    ARE 

I.    Educational  Progress 3 

II.    Buildings  and  Equipment 12 

III.  Courses  of  Study  and  Length  of  School 

Term 23 

IV.  The  Teachers 41 

V.    Instruction 58 

PART    II.  HINDRANCES    TO    DEVELOPMENT 

VI.    Administrative  Handicaps 83 

VII.  Limitations  and  Conflicting  Develop- 

ments       92 

PART  III.    THE  WAY  OUT 

VIII.  Better  Administration 107 

IX.  Better  Trained  Teachers 116 

X.  Better  Financial  Support 128 


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PREFACE 

The  Legislature  of  the  State  of  North  Carohna,  at  its 
session  in  1917,  passed  an  Act  creating  a  State  Educa- 
tional Commission  to  be  composed  of  five  members 
appointed  by  the  Governor  for  a  term  of  two  years. 
The  General  Assembly  of  1919  continued  this  Commis- 
sion for  two  years  and  similar  action  has  recently  been 
taken  under  the  General  Assembly  of  1921. 

The  Act  provided  that  the  Commission  should  make 
a  thorough  study  of  the  school  laws  of  the  state,  a  careful 
survey  of  existing  educational  conditions,  and  a  com- 
parative study  and  investigation  of  the  educational 
systems  of  other  states;  that  the  Commission  should 
clodify  the  public  school  laws  of  the  state  and  make 
recommendation  of  such  amendments,  changes  and  addi- 
tions to  the  school  law  as  in  its  opinion  may  be  needed, 
make  a  thorough  study  of  the  teacher  training  agencies 
in  the  state,  and  report  its  findings  and  recommenda- 
tions to  the  General  Assembly  of  1921. 

The  Commission  was  made  up  of  the  following  mem- 
bers: Robert  H.  Wright,  chairman;  L.  J.  Bell,  secretary; 
N.  W.  Walker,  C.  E.  Brewer  and  C.  C.  Wright. 

The  Commission  invited  the  General  Education 
Board  to  make  the  proposed  survey  and  the  present 
volume  embodies  the  report  made  to  the  Survey  Com- 
mission. The  Introduction  prepared  by  Dr.  E.  C.  Brooks, 
State  Superintendent  of  Education,  outlines  the  legisla- 
tion adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  Commission. 


jTiil 


INTRODUCTION 

The  General  Assembly  of  1917  created  a  State  Edu- 
cational Commission,  consisting  of  five  members,  to 
make  a  thorough  survey  of  educational  conditions  and 
needs  in  North  Carolina.  To  assist  it  in  carrying  out 
its  objects  the  Commission  obtained  the  services  of 
the  General  Education  Board,  and  also  enlisted  the 
help  of  all  the  school  officials  of  the  state.  The  survey 
was  completed  in  October,  1920,  and  a  report  of  the 
Commission's  findings  and  recommendations  submitted 
to  the  General  Assembly  of  1921. 

The  educational  legislation  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  1921  followed  in  the  main  recommendations  outlined 
in  this  report.  It  may  be  classified  under  the  following 
heads:  (1)  State  Administration;  (2)  City  Adminis- 
tration; (3)  County  Administration;  (4)  Training  of 
teachers;  (5)  High  Schools;  and  (6)  Administration 
of  the  Public  School  Fund. 

I.  State  Administration 
The   following   new   departments   were    created,    and 
fairly  liberal  appropriations  for  their  maintenance  were 
authorized. 

1.  A  Division  of  Teacher  Training,  having  one  direc- 
or  and  not  more  than  four  supervisors  and  such  ass- 
sistants  as  may  be  necessary,  consistent  with  the  appro- 
priation, which  is  $25,000  annually. 

2.  A  Division  of  Certification  of  Teachers,  having 
one  director  and  such  clerks,  stenographers,  and  assis- 
tants as  may  be  necessary,  consistent  with  the  appro- 
priation, which  is  $25,000  annually. 

3.  A  Division  of  Negro  Education,  having  one  direc- 
tor and  such  supervisors  and  assistants  as  may  be  necessary, 
consistent  with  the  appropriation,  which  is  $15,000.  This 
division  is  given  charge  of  all  normal  schools,  training 
schools,  high  schools,  elementary  schools,  and  teacher 
training  departments  for  Negroes. 


X  Introduction 

4.  A  Division  of  Physical  Education,  having  one  direc- 
tor and  such  assistants  as  may  be  necessary,  consistent 
with  the  appropriation,  which  is  $15,000.  The  State 
Board  of  Education  is  authorized  to  accept  any  Federal 
funds  for  the  encouragement  of  physical  education 
and  to  make  all  needful  rules  and  regulations  for  pro- 
moting physical  education. 

5.  A  Division  of  Schoolhouse  Planning ,  having  one  direc- 
tor and  such  assistants  as  may  be  necessary,  consistent 
with  the  appropriation,  which  is  S10,000. 

6.  A  Division  of  Publication,  having  one  director  and 
such  assistants  as  may  be  necessary.  The  State  Board 
of  Education  is  authorized  to  appropriate  from  the 
State  PubHc  School  Fund  such  amount  as  may  be  neces- 
sary for  this  department. 

7.  A  Division  of  Statistics,  having  one  director  and 
such  clerical  assistants  as  may  be  necessary,  consistent 
with  the  appropriation,  which  is  $5,000. 

II.     City  Administration 

The  place  of  the  city  school  in  the  state  educational 
system  has  never  been  defined;  accordingly,  the  General 
Assembly  authorized  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction  to  define  a  city  school  and  the  State  Board 
of  Education  to  amend  city  school  charters  in  accord- 
ance with  their  needs.  City  schools  hereafter  will  hold 
the  same  relationship  to  the  State  Department  of 
Education  as  the  county  school  unit  holds.  In 
other  words,  there  may  be  two  separate  school  units — the 
city  school  unit  and  the  county  school  unit. 

III.     County  Administration 

The  General  Assembly  provided  for  the  consolidation 
of  schools  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the  county  the  miit 
of  administration  of  all  schools  in  the  county,  except  the 
city  schools,  as  defined  by  the  State  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction.  The  State  Board  of  Education  was 
authorized,  under  certain  conditions,  to  charter,  amend 
or  annul  charters  of  school  districts  within   the  county 


Introduction  xi 

system.  But  the  State  Board  of  Education  cannot  charter 
a  school  district  without  the  approval  of  the  county  board 
of  education.  If  the  State  Board  charters  a  school  dis- 
trict it  becomes  a  city  school  unit.  Otherwise  the  coun- 
ties have  the  authority  to  consolidate  in  such  a  way  as  to 
bring  all  small,  independent  units  under  the  county  system. 

IV.     Training  of  Teachers 

While  the  survey  was  under  way,  the  state  certifi- 
cation plan  was  improved  and  a  salary  schedule  was 
proposed,  paralleling  the  certification  plan.  According 
to  the  proposed  salary  schedule,  county  and  city  will 
pay  the  highest  salary  to  the  teacher  holding  the  highest 
certificate  and  the  lowest  salary  to  the  teacher  holding 
the  lowest  certificate.  The  special  session  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  1920  accepted  the  proposed  salary 
schedule.  At  once  a  demand  arose  on  the  part  of  teachers 
for  further  training,  and  over  seven  thousand  attended 
summer  school  in  order  to  raise  the  grade  of  the  certi- 
ficate held  and  command  the  correspondingly  higher 
salary.  Nothing  -  has  so  stimulated  the  teaching  pro- 
fession as  the  Certification-Salary  Plan. 

In  accordance  with  the  recommendations  of  the  State 
Educational  Commission,  the  General  Assembly  provided 
for  the  enlargement  of  its  normal  schools.  The  Cullo- 
whee  Normal  School,  the  Appalachian  Training  School, 
the  three  Negro  Normal  Schools,  and  the  Normal 
School  for  the  Indians  were  placed  under  the  control 
of  the  State  Board  of  Education;  the  sum  of  $500,000 
was  appropriated  for  buildings  and  equipment,  and  the 
maintenance   fund   was   more  than  doubled. 

Moreover,  the  summer  school  program,  which  was 
such  a  success  in  the  summer  of  1920,  was  enlarged.  Two 
classes  of  summer  schools  have  been  provided— the  state 
summer  school  and  the  county  summer  school.  The 
state  summer  schools  are  conducted  at  the  higher  in- 
stitutions of  the  state  for  a  term  of  six  or  eight  weeks.  All 
teachers  holding  certificates  of  a  certain  class  and  grade 
are  entitled  to  attend  the  state  summer  schools.   County 


xii  Introduction 

summer  schools  of  from  six  to  twelve  weeks  are  provided 
for  teachers  holding  lower  grades  of  certificates,  and 
teachers  receive  no  credit  for  attendance  unless  they 
attend  the  summer  school  which  is  provided  for  them 
in  accordance  with  the  kind  of  certificate  held.  Here- 
tofore the  state  has  paid  one-half  the  cost  of  the  county 
summer  schools,  but,  according  to  the  provision  of 
the  General  Assembly,  it  can  pay  in  the  future  as  much  as 
three-fourths  of  the  cost  when  necessary. 

V.     High  Schools 

The  General  Assembly  provided  for  the  consolidation 
of  schools  in  such  a  way  as  to  promote  the  development 
of  high  schools.  The  State  Department  of  Education 
was  authorized  to  standardize  high  schools,  and  the 
standards  recommended  by  the  Educational  Commission 
have  been  adopted.  The  General  Assembly  appropriated 
$224,000  to  be  spent  in  supplementing  high  school 
funds  after  the  county  and  the  district  have  reached  a 
certain  limit.  This  is  for  the  purpose  of  equalizing  the 
burden  of  support  and  of  increasing  the  number  of 
standard  high  schools  in  the  rural  districts. 

VI.     Administration  of  the  Public  School  Fund 

One  of  the  greatest  changes  made  is  in  the  manner  of 
administering  and  safeguarding  the  public  school  funds. 
This  is  in  accordance  with  the  recommendations  of  the 
State  Educational  Commission  and  in  brief  is  as  follows: 

On  or  before  the  first  day  of  August  of  each  year  the 
county  board  of  education  of  each  county  shall  cause 
to  be  audited  the  books  of  the  treasurer  of  the  county 
school  fund  and  the  account  of  the  county  board  of 
education,  and  shall  provide  for  the  cost  of  the  same, 
where  a  county  auditor  is  not  provided  by  special  stat- 
ute, out  of  the  incidental  fund.  The  auditor's  report 
shall  show: 

(1)  The  total  amount  belonging  to  the  county  for 
the  six-months  school  term,  as  showTi  by  the  tax  books; 
what  part  has  been  collected  and   deposited  with  the 


Introduction  xiii 

treasurer  for  the  current  year;  and  what  balance  for  the 
previous  year  has  been  collected  or  still  remains  un- 
collected by  the  tax  collector. 

(2)  The  number  of  schools  in  the  county,  other  than 
city  schools,  supported  in  part  by  special  local  taxes; 
the  number  supported  entirely  from  the  funds  appropri- 
ated from  the  state  and  county  six-months  school  fund; 
and  the  total  amount  of  special  local  taxes  raised  for 
schools  and  belonging  to  the  credit  of  each  special  local 
tax  district  and  how  this  fund  has  been  disbursed. 

(3)  The  salary,  traveling  expenses,  clerical  assist- 
ance, and  other  office  expenses  of  the  county  superintend- 
ent and  the  county  board  of  education. 

(4)  The  total  salaries  paid  teachers,  supervisors, 
principals  and  all  other  employees  employed  in  the 
county  system,  what  part  was  paid  out  of  the  state  and 
county  six-months  school  funds,  and  what  part  was 
paid  out  of  the  special  local  tax  funds. 

(5)  The  amount  of  the  incidental  and  building  fund 
received,  the  source  of  the  fund,  and  how  it  was  dis- 
bursed. 

The  auditor  shall  compare  the  expenditures  with  the 
approved  budget  and  report  whether  all  salaries  and 
other  expenses  have  been  paid  in  accordance  Avith  law, 
and  by  what  amount  the  school  fund  received  or  to  be 
received  exceeds  or  falls  short  of  the  estimated  amount 
needed,  as  set  forth  in  the  May  budget. 

The  auditor's  report  shall  be  published  in  some  news- 
paper circulating  in  the  county,  or  in  bulletin  form,  and 
one  copy  each  shall  be  sent  to  the  State  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction,  the  chairman  of  the  county  board 
of  commissioners,  and  the  chairman  of  the  county  board 
of    education. 

In  like  manner  and  in  similar  detail,  unless  other- 
wise provided  in  special  act,  the  board  of  education  of 
each  city  school  district  shall  cause  to  be  audited  the 
accounts  of  the  treasurer  and  board  of  education  of  the 
respective  city  school  district. 


xiv  Introduction 

If  the  county  board  of  education  or  city  board  of  ed- 
ucation shall  fail  to  have  all  accounts  audited  as  provided 
herein,  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
shall  notify  the  State  Tax  Commission,  and  said  State 
Tax  Commission  shall  send  an  auditor  to  said  county 
or  city  and  have  the  accounts  audited  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  this  section,  and  all  expenses  for 
the  same  shall  be  paid  by  the  county  board  of  education 
or  the  city  board  of  education,  as  the  case  may  be.  If 
the  county  superintendent  of  schools  shall  fail  to  keep 
the  records  of  the  county  board  of  education  in  such 
manner  that  they  may  be  audited  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  this  act,  the  State  Board  of  Ed- 
ucation may  revoke  his  certificate.  Moreover,  if  the 
Treasurer  fails  to  keep  all  school  funds  in  the  manner 
prescribed  by  law,  the  board  of  education  may  sue  on 
his  bond  and  recover  at  any  time  such  amount  as  may 
be  due  the  schools  on  the  Sheriff's  receipt. 

Continuation  of  Educational  Commission 

The  State  Educational  Commission  was  continued  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  1921.  The  Commission  will 
cooperate  with  the  State  Department  of  Education  in 
working  out  further  basic  changes  essential  to  the 
proper  development  of  the  school  system  of  the  State; 
the  Commission  intends  also  to  present  to  the  legisla- 
ture a  complete  systematization  and  codification  of  the 
public  school  laws. 

(Signed)     E.  C.  BROOKS 
State  Superintendent  of  Education 


PART  I 

THE  SCHOOLS  AS  THEY  ARE 

CHAPTERS  I-V 


I.     EDUCATIONAL  PROGRESS 

THE  maintenance  of  a  free  system  of  public     schools 
seems  today  among  the  self-evident     functions    of 
a  democratic  goverment.     But  it   has  not     always 
been  so.     Public  education  has  had  to  vnn  its  way  against 
severe    opposition — nowhere,    perhaps,   against     hea\aer 
odds  than  in  our  ov^ii  state. 

North  Carolina  was  chiefly  settled  by  the  English, 
who  brought  ^^'ith  them  deep-seated  class  distinctions, 
a  repugnance  to  public  taxation,  and  the  firmly  rooted 
belief  that  education  is  a  private  and  not  a  public  matter. 
Certain  sections  were  settled  more  particularly  by  non- 
Enghsh  immigrants — for  example,  the  Moravians  settled 
in  Forsyth,  the  S\\dss  in  Craven,  the  Scotch-Irish  in  the 
southern  and  western  sections,  and  the  Germans  in  the 
south-central  and  western  portions.  These  non-Enghsh, 
like  the  English,  settlers  beheved  that  education  belonged 
to  the  family  and  the  church,  and  not  to  the  state. 
Moreover,  traditions  and  comactions  were  fortified  by 
the  mode  of  hfe  and  the  isolation  of  the  people,  by  slavery 
in  the  early  days,  and  more  recently  by  the  presence 
of  a  large  number  of  freedmen.  Nevertheless,  gradually 
the  objections  to  public  education  gave  way  before  an 
enlightened  and  democratic  sentiment.  It  is  difficult 
for  the  present  generation  to  realize  the  greatness  of 
the  change  which  has  been  wrought.  Only  those  of  an 
older  generation,  who  remember  Dr.  Wiley  begging  his 
fellow  citizens  to  join  in  procuring  legislative  permission 
for  Winston  to  organize  public  schools,  even  though  pro- 
hibited from  le^n^nng  taxes  to  support  them,  can  appre- 
ciate the  distance  traveled  from  that  day  to  this,  when 
Winston-Salem  votes  a  bond  issue  of  §800,000  for  public 
schools.     An  even  more  striking  example  of  the  change 


.  V 


:  :'4*«.'*  •••piJBLlc* Education  in  North  Carolina 

wrought  is  Rocky  Mount,  voting  a  separate  bond  issue 
of  $38,000  for  the  erection  of  colored  schools.  In  the 
development  of  this  progressive  educational  sentiment 
have  labored  some  of  the  noblest  sons  of  the  old  North 
State — Vance,  Jarvis,  Aycock,  Caldwell,  Murphy,  Battle, 
Wiley,    Mclver,    Joyner,    Graham,    and    many    others. 

Expansion  of  the  System 

The  public  schools  now  include  elementary  schools, 
high  schools,  normal  schools,  agricultural  and  engineering 
colleges,  the  North  Carolina  College  for  Women,  and 
the  State  University.  The  State  University,  the  head 
of  the  system,  was  the  first  of  these  established,  being 
chartered  in  1789  and  opened  in  1795.  The  history  of 
the  University  is  in  a  way  the  history  of  the  state,  for 
its  graduates  have  been  intimately  associated  these 
hundred  years  with  every  movement  for  the  economic? 
political,  moral,  and  educational  betterment  of  the 
commonwealth. 

Fifty  years  elapsed  between  the  founding  of  the  Uni- 
versity and  the  establishment  of  public  elementary 
schools  in  1839.  Their  estabhshment  represented  a 
tremendous  advance  in  educational  sentiment.  For, 
while  the  State  University  was  founded  as  a  child  of  the 
state  and  under  its  control,  the  state  did  not  assume 
responsibility  for  its  support.  In  contrast,  the  state 
did  assume  responsibility  for  maintaining  public  ele- 
mentary schools,  as  the  law  of  1839  recognized  the  right 
of  the  state  to  use  state  funds  and  to  authorize  the  levy 
of  local  taxes  in  their  behalf. 

More  than  three-quarters  of  a  century  have  therefore 
elapsed  since  the  establishment  of  the  first  public  ele- 
mentary schools.  In  the  meantime,  selfish  interests 
and  prejudice  have  many  times  attacked  this  basic  in- 
stitution of  democracy.     Its  foundations  have  frequently 


Educational  Progress  5 

been  shaken,  and  often  the  work  of  years  seemed  lost. 
Yet.  despite  opposition  to  taxes,  cold  indifference,  vested 
interests,  class  prejudice,  the  public  elementary  school 
has  slowly  but  surely  won  its  way  with  the  people.  To 
this  deepening  appreciation  the  5,422  rural  schoolhouses 
for  white  children  in  1918,  and  the  2,316  for  colored  chil- 
dren, exclusive  of  the  schools  of  the  136  specially  char- 
tered districts,  are  irrefutable  witnesses. 

The  study  program  of  the  first  public  elementary  schools 
as  elsewhere  was  simple :  It  included  the  merest  elements 
of  an  English  education — reading,  spelling,  WTiting,  and 
arithmetic,  with  an  occasional  class  in  grammar  and  geog- 
raphy. From  time  to  time  other  studies  have  been  added, 
so  that  now  all  public  elementary  schools  must,  according 
to  the  law,  teach  reading,  spelling,  writing,  arithmetic, 
drawing,  language  lessons,  and  composition,  English 
grammar,  geography,  history  of  Xorth  Carolina  and  of 
the  United  States,  the  elements  of  agriculture,  elemen- 
tary physiology  and  hygiene,  home  economics  for  girls 
and  manual  training  for  boys. 

The  broadening  of  the  elementary  program  is  by  no 
means  the  most  significant  extension  of  public  educa- 
tion. Until  recently,  the  public  elementary  school  was 
a  blind  alley;  it  led  nowhere,  for  there  were  no  public  high 
schools.  Boys  and  girls  desiring  more  than  an  English 
education  were  compelled  to  attend  private  academies 
or  preparatory  schools,  which  then  existed  in  large  num- 
bers ;i  but  for  the  great  majority  the  fees  were  prohibitive. 
However,  as  the  public  elementary  schools  developed, 
certain  of  the  stronger — first  the  graded  city  schools  and 
then  an  occasional  rural  school — provided  some  high 
school  work.  Yet,  as  late  as  1886  there  were  onh'  eight 
city  schools  in  the  state  reporting  high  school  instruc- 

ila  1890  there  were  in  7J  counties  of  the  state— the  others  not  reporting— a  total 
of  526  private  and  preparatory  schools.  ha\'ing  a  white  enrollment  of  2-l,301,  and 
a  colored  enrollment  of  4,413.     Superintendent's  Report,  1889-1890.  page  89. 


6  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

tioni  and  only  two  went  so  far  as  the  tenth  grade.  Never- 
theless, the  leaven  was  at  work.  Twenty  years  later 
(1906)  practically  all  of  the  78  specially  chartered  dis- 
tricts (city  schools)  supported  some  kind  of  high  school, 
and  968  country  white  schools  and  90  country  colored 
schools  were  teaching  some  high  school  subjects.  As 
to  the  enrollment  at  this  time,  there  are  no  reliable  data, 
but  the  Superintendent's  report  for  1902-1903  gives  for 
the  rural  schools,  5,724  pupils  studying  algebra,  6,801 
higher  English,  and  663  Latin. 

With  the  need  so  obvious  and  pressing,  the  state  under- 
took in  1907  to  encourage  the  establishment  of  county 
high  schools,  and,  through  special  financial  aid,  to  lessen 
their  local  cost.  The  response  was  immediate;  the  high 
school  inspector  in  1908  reported  213  public  high  schools, 
132  in  the  counties,  and  81  in  the  cities  and  to\vns.  The 
enrollment  in  177  of  those  reporting  was  6,398.  This, 
however,  was  merely  the  beginning.  A  '  decade  later 
(1918)  there  were  209  county  and  149  local  and  city  high 
schools^  with  a  combined  enrollment  of  23,461,  these 
figures  taking  no  account  of  scores  of  small  schools  giving 
some  high  school  instruction. 

Our  public  schools  have  developed  in  still  other  ways. 
Not  the  least  of  these  is  the  lengthening  of  the  school 
year,  particularly  in  the  rural  schools.  Our  city  schools, 
like  city  schools  elsewhere,  have  always  had  a  school  year 
ranging  from  eight  to  ten  months,  the  usual  length.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  city  school  year  has  undergone  little  change. 
At  present  the  average  is  more  than  eight  and  one-half 
months  for  the  39  cities  having  a  population  (census  of 
1910)  of  2,500  and  over.  The  great  change  has  come  in 
the  length  of  the  rural  school  term.     The  average  for 


^These  cities  were:  Goldsboro,  Charlotte,  Durham,  New  Bern,  Greensboro, 
Wilson,  Salisbury,  and  Winston.    Superintendent's  Report,  1885-1886,  page  92. 

^Thirteen  of  the  city  and  town  high  schools  in  1907,  and  37  in  1918,  received  state 
aid  and  were  also  classed  as  county  high  schools,  as  they  were  open  without  tuition 
to  the  children  of  the  county. 


Educational    Progress  7 

white  schools  in  1880  was  only  48  days.  Decade  by  de- 
cade this  has  slowly  lengthened,  rising  to  73  in  1900,  and 
to  116  in  1915;  in  no  comity  in  1919,  owing  to  the  new 
school  law,  did  the  rural  school  term  fall  below  120  days, 
and  in  a  number  it  was  longer. 

Measured  alone  by  the  average  length  of  term,  to  say 
nothing  of  increased  efficiency,  the  elementary  school 
opportunities  of  rural  boys  and  girls  have,  within  the  last 
forty  years,  increased  about  one  and  a  half  times. 

The  public  school  has  also  slowly  extended  its  benefits 
to  a  larger  and  larger  proportion  of  the  boys  and  girls  of 
school  age.  This  is  shown  in  the  increased  per  cent  of 
the  total  school  population  going  to  school.  The  school 
population  includes  all  children  between  six  and  twenty- 
one  years  of  age.  It  is  not  expected  that  all  children  of 
these  ages  will  attend  school — for  example,  children 
nineteen  and  twenty  years  old.  The  law  merely  keeps 
the  door  open  to  these  older  children.  Nevertheless, 
any  increase  in  the  percentage  of  the  entire  group  attend- 
ing school  indicates  an  increase  in  the  attractive  power 
of  the  school.  On  this  basis  the  hold  of  the  public  school 
on  the  people  of  the  state  in  1880  was  weak,  as  only  51 
per  cent  of  the  total  school  population  were  in  the  public 
schools;  by  1900,  58  per  cent  of  the  school  population 
came  under  public  school  influence;  by  1910,  71  per  cent; 
and  by  1918,  74  per  cent.  The  school  enrollment  thus 
increased  between  1880  and  1918  147  per  cent,  whereas 
the  school  population  increased  only  68  per  cent.^  In 
short,  the  public  school  now  reaches  annually,  for  periods 
of  varying  length,  practically  four  out  of  every  five  of  the 
white  youth,  and  practically  seven  out  of  every  ten 
colored  youth  of  legal  school  age. 

As  a  final  instance  of  the  development  of  the  system. 


'In  the  corresponding  period  the  enrolhnent  of  the  white  school  population  rose 
from  54  to  78  per  cent  and  the  enrollment  of  the  colored  school  population  from 
47  to  69  per  cent. 


8  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

we  cite  the  establishment  of  institutions  for  the  training 
of  teachers.  1  The  teacher  is  always  the  essential  factor 
in  a  good  school.  Obvious  as  this  would  seem,  the  Amer- 
ican people  as  a  whole  have  never  appreciated  it.  Fol- 
lowing the  common  practice,  we  launched  our  public 
school  system  but  made  no  provision  for  the  training  of 
teachers.  Despite  the  repeated  solicitations  of  educators 
for  the  establishment  of  teacher  training  schools,  the  state 
took  no  step  in  this  direction  until  1877,  when  a  summer 
school  for  white  teachers  at  the  University  and  a  state 
colored  normal  school  at  Fayetteville  were  established. 
From  time  to  time  thereafter  additional  summer  schools 
were  organized — four  for  colored  and  eight  for  white 
teachers.  From  these  beginnings  grew  the  present  teacher 
training  facilities  of  the  state,  which  comprise,  for  white 
teachers,  the  school  of  education  at  the  University,  the 
North  Carolina  College  for  Women  (established  in  1891), 
the  Cullowhee  Normal  and  Industrial  School  (1893), 
the  Appalachian  Training  School  (1903),  and  the  East 
Carolina  Teachers  Training  School  (1907).  The  state 
now  supports  three  schools  for  colored  teachers — the 
state  colored  normal  schools  at  Fayetteville,  Elizabeth 
City,  and  Winston-Salem- — and  for  the  training  of  Indian 
teachers  the  Cherokee  Indian  Normal  School  at  Pembroke. 
Besides  these  institutions,  the  state  has  recently  estab- 
lished teacher  training  departments  in  twelve  high  schools, 
and  six  or  eight  week  summer  schools  in  most  of  the 
counties. 

Increased  Financial  Support 

The  growth  in  public  sentiment  has  expressed  itself 
also  in  more  and  more  liberal  financial  support  of  the 
public  schools.     For  example,  the  total  expenditure  in 


iWhile  not  considered  here,  it  should  be  noted  that  the  State  College  of  Agri- 
culture and  Engineering,  at  West  Raleigh,  was  established  in  1889,  and  the  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  College  for  Negroes,  at  Greensboro,  in  1891. 


Educational  Progress  9 

round  terms  for  all  public  school  purposes — state,  county 
and  local — was : 


In  1880 $    396,000.00 

In  1890 787,000.00 

In  1900 1,092,000.00 

In  1910 3,179,000.00 

In  1919 8,105,000.00 

or  an  increase  of  about  155  per  cent  in  1919  over  1910, 
and  of  about  642  per  cent  over  1900. 


1880 
1890 
1900 
1910 
1919 


4396,000 
I     *787,0OO 

*  1.092.000 

#3,179.000 


*  8. 10  5.000 


FiGUBE  1 

Growth  in  Total  Public  School  Expenditures 


The  most  healthy  public  schools  depend  on  local  taxes 
for  the  major  part  of  their  support.  It  is  therefore  inter- 
esting to  note  that  an  increasing  proportion  of  school  funds 
is  derived  from  local  taxes,  that  is,  taxes  other  than  state 
and  county.  For  instance,  in  1903  local  taxes  produced 
only  12  per  cent  of  the  total  current  school  revenues, 
whereas  ten  years  later,  in  1913,  32  per  cent  and  in  1918 
34  per  cent  were  so  derived.  As  elsewhere,  \villingness 
to  pay  local  school  taxes  developed  earlier  and  is  stronger 
in  the  cities  than  in  the  rural  sections.  For  example,  in 
1918  the  cities  raised  locally  60  per  cent  of  their  total 
current  school  revenue,  as  against  20  per  cent  in  the 
counties. 


10 


Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 


The  increased  financial  support  of  the  schools  shows 
itself  particularly  in  the  increase  in  the  annual  current 
expenditure  per  pupil  in  average  daily  attendance,  and 
in  the  increased  investment  in  school  property,  such  as 
grounds,  buildings,  and  equipment.  The  annual  current 
expenditure  per  pupil  in  average  daily  attendance  was, 
for  city  and  county : 

In  1880 $  2.10 

In  1890 3.48 

In  1900 4.43 

In  1910 7.55 

In  1918 12.64 

with  an  annual  current  per  pupil  expenditure  in  the  cities 
of  S20.68,  and  in  the  rural  districts  of  S10.63. 

1880  ■■■    $  2.10 


1890 
1900 
19  10 
19  18 


4  3A8 


4  4.43 


#  7.53 


12. G4 


Figure  2 
Growth  in  Current  Expenditures  per  Pupil  in  Average  Daily  Attendance 

On  the  other  hand,  the  capital  investment  in  school 
property  was: 

In  1880,  $  227,404.00  or  S  .88  per  pupil  enroUed 
In  1890,  792,304.00  or      2.43  per  pupil  enroUed 

In  1900,  1,115,250.00  or  2.72  per  pupil  enrolled 
In  1910,  5,862,969.00  or  11.27  per  pupil  enrolled 
In  1918,     14,303,503.00  or    22.50  per  pupil  enrolled 

For  the  cities  alone  the  .investment  per  pupil  enrolled 
was,  in  1918,  $54.92    and  for  the  rural  districts,  S15.12. 


Educational  Progress  1 1 

1  880  I      *  0.88 

1  8  90  H       4  2.43 

1900  H        #   2.7Z 

1  9  1  0  HHBBH       4  11.27 

19  18  ^^^^^a^^^^^^m    ^  ZZ.55 


Figure  3 
Growth  in  Value  of  School  Property  per  Pupil  Enrolled 

From  the  preceding  account,  it  is  clear  that  the  public 
schools  are  firmly  established,  that  they  are  constantly 
reaching  out  to  meet  more  and  more  adequately  the  needs 
of  a  developing  commonwealth,  and  that  their  financial 
support  is  increasingly  liberal.  Public  education  in  North 
Carolina  has,  therefore,  made  marked  progress,  especially 
within  the  last  twenty  years.  Of  this  progress  the  fullest 
and  frankest  acknowledgment  should  be  made.  On  the 
other  hand,  careful  investigation  reveals  serious  defects 
and  hindrances.  The  present  report  undertakes  to  pre- 
sent the  facts  as  they  are,  and  to  offer  recommendations 
for  the  improvement  of  our  public  school  system.  We 
will,  therefore,  in  succession  (1)  describe  the  schools  as 
they  are,  including  the  character  of  the  buildings,  courses 
of  study  and  length  of  term,  the  training  of  the  teachers, 
and  the  quality  of  the  instruction;  (2)  inquire  into  such 
hindrances  as  have  limited  their  service  and  retarded 
their  development;  and  (3)  point  out  what  steps  should 
be  taken  at  this  time  to  mden  their  influence  and  increase 
their  efficiency,  particularly  in  so  far  as  this  can  be  ac- 
compHshed  through  legislation  and  state  action. 


II.     BUILDINGS  AND  EQUIPMENT 

OUR    public    school   buildings  may  be    divided,  for 
purposes  of  description,  into  rural    schoolhouses, 
those    under    county    boards    of    education,    and 
cit}'  schoolhouses,  those  of  speciallj'  chartered  districts.' 

Rural  Schoolhouses  ^ 

At  the  end  of  the  school  yesLV  1917-1918  there  were  in 
the  state  7,738  rural  schoolhouses,  of  which  5,422  were 
for  white  and  2,316  were  for  colored  children.  Few  white 
schoolhouses  and  less  than  half  of  the  colored  school- 
houses  are  more  than  twenty  years  old,  for,  since  1900, 
5,070  new  rural  schoolhouses  for  white  and  1,293  for 
colored  children  have  been  erected.  It  might,  therefore, 
be  expected  that  at  least  the  rural  white  schools  would 
have  good  plants,  and  that  approximately  half  of  the 
colored  schoolhouses  would  be  of  recent  design.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  case.  For,  from  the  revival  of  inter- 
est in  pubhc  education  after  1876  until  very  recently, 
the  paramount  question  before  rural  school  authorities 
was  not  how  well,  but  how  cheaply  could  building  be 
done;  it  was  not  for  them  a  question  of  building  a  modern 
schoolhouse,  but  of  procuring  any  schoolhouse  at  all  that 
would  shelter  the  pupils  and  keep   the  schools  going. 

As  a  rule,  the  funds  available  were  extremely  small. 
For  example,  the  average  value  of  grounds,  buildings, 
and  equipment  of  rural  schoolhouses  in  1880  was  about 
$50;  in  1890,  about  8130;  in  1900,  8160;  in  1910,  S420; 


'There  are  in  the  state  136  specially  chartered  districts,  or  city  school  sjstems. 

^Our  description  of  rural  schoolhouses  is  based  on  data    taken  from  the  annual 
reports  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  and  on  personal  observa- 
tion.   We  spent  during  the  course  of  our  study  four  and  a  half  months  in  the  rural 
schools,  ^'isiting  thirty-one  counties  in  all  sections  of  the  state. 
1121 


Buildings  and  Equipment  13 

and  in  1918,  SI, 000.  For  the  corresponding  period  the 
average  value  of  white  rural  schoolhouses  rose  from  S50 
in  1880  to  SI, 290  in  1918;  and  of  colored  schoolhouses, 
from  SoO  in  1880  to  S350  in  1918. 

This  increased  outlay  per  rural  schoolhouse  appears, 
first,  in  the  character  of  the  buildings  erected,  that  is, 
whether  brick,  frame  or  log.  In  1890,  for  example,  29 
per  cent  of  all  rural  schoolhouses  were  log;  in  1918,  less 
than  3  per  cent,  wdth  less  than  1  per  cent  log  for  white 
children  and  7  per  cent  for  colored  children.  At  the  same 
time  the  percentage  of  frame  houses  rose  from  71  per 
cent  in  1890  to  95  per  cent  in  1918. 

There  has  been  a  corresponding  improvement  in  school 
furniture.  Since  1905  home-made  benches  have  practically 
disappeared  from  white  schools,  while  the  percentage 
of  schools  with  home-made  desks  has  decreased  from 
60  to  22,  and  the  number  furnished  with  patent  desks 
has  increased  from  19  to  74  per  cent.  Similarly  in  colored 
schools:  In  1905,  44  per  cent  were  seated  with  home- 
made benches,  in  1918,  15  per  cent,  while  the  percent- 
age furnished  with  patent  desks  has  risen  from  3  to  32 
per  cent. 

The  rural  school  situation  is  thus  in  general  encourag- 
ing. Not  only  are  larger  sums  being  spent  per  rural 
schoolhouse,  but  these  are  being  built  more  and  more 
substantially  and  are  being  more  and  more  fittingly 
furnished. 

Smaller  Rlt^al  Schoolhouses 

Of  the  7,738  rural  schoolhouses  in  1918,  60  per  cent, 
or  4,643,  were  one  room  schools;  28  per  cent,  or  2,167,  were 
two  room  schools;  7  per  cent,  or  541,  were  three  room 
schools,  and  5  per  cent,  or  387,  were  schools  of  four  or  more 
rooms.  1 


'There  is  probably  a  small  error  in  the  number  of  one,  two,  and  three  room 
schoolhouses  given  above,  as  the  estimate  is  based  on  the  number  of  schools 
reported  as  having  one,  two,  three,  or  more  teachers. 


14  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

In  describing  the  smaller  rural  schools — those  having 
three  rooms  or  less — it  should  be  held  in  mind,  as  stated 
above,  that  they  were  mostly  built  at  a  time  when  severe 
economy  was  necessary.  Only  recently  has  it  been  pos- 
sible to  give  weight  to  the  sanitary,  educational,  and 
social  requirements  of  a  good  rural  school.  Consequent- 
ly, a  majority  of  the  rural  schoolhouses— probably  three- 
fourths— are  unsatisfactory.  Only  the  newer  buildings, 
those  erected  within  the  last  five  or  six  years,  approxi- 
mate acceptable  standards. 

The  older  one  room  buildings  are  one  story,  box-like 
structures,  differing  from  each  other  chiefly  in  size. 
Usually  unpainted  and  in  ill  repair,  their  weatherbeaten 
exteriors  present  a  cheerless  picture.  Nor  are  they  more 
cheerful  A\dthin.  Ordinarilj^  there  is  but  a  single  room, 
seldom  a  vestibule  or  cloak  room.  The  hats  and  coats 
of  the  children  hang  from  nails  driven  into  the  walls. 
The  wdndows,  on  three  sides,  if  not  on  four,  give  a  cross- 
work  of  light  and  shade  that  is  not  only  trying  to  the  eyes 
but  accentuates  the  smoky,  brown  ugliness  of  the  ceilings 
and  walls.  The  walls  are  usually  of  natural  pine,  rarely 
plastered,  and  less  often  decorated.  The  old-fashioned 
"long  John"  stove  radiates  its  cheer  on  a  chilly  day  from 
its  place  of  honor  in  the  center  of  the  room;  but  even  the 
kindly  stove  all  too  often  becomes  a  torment.  The  wind- 
fall pine  fuel  makes  a  quick  but  transitory  heat,  so  that 
at  one  moment  the  room  is  hot  to  suffocation  and  a  half 
hour  later  cold  to  the  point  of  discomfort.  Even  when 
the  room  is  seemingly  comfortable,  the  children  may  be 
half  hot  and  half  cold.  They  may  be  comfortable  about 
the  head  and  shoulders,  and  at  the  same  time  the  cold 
winds,  sweeping  under  the  schoolhouse — which  is  with- 
out proper  underpinning — up  through  the  floor  and  into 
the  classroom  may  be  biting  at  their  feet  and  legs.  While 
some  children  enjoy  the  comforts  of  patent  desks  and 


OLD  TYPE  ONE  ROOM  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Buildings  and  Equipment  15 

occasionally  of  patent  single  desks,  others  quite  as  often 
must  sit  six  weary  hours  a  day  on  home-made  desks  and 
sometimes  even  on  home-made  benches.  Home-made 
desks  and  benches  are  particularly  common  in  colored 
schools.  Seldom  are  there  adequate  provisions  for  drink- 
ing water  or  for  the  washing  of  hands  and  face,  to  say 
nothing  of  adequate  toilet  facilities.  There  is  now  active 
an  excellent  piece  of  new  legislation  requiring  the  con- 
struction at  all  schoolhouses  of  sanitary  privies,  one  for 
boys  and  one  for  girls.  At  present,  however,  taking  the 
rural  schools  as  a  whole,  probably  less  than  60  per  cent 
have  adequate  toilet  provisions,  and  probably  half  of 
the  outhouses  are  dilapidated,  disreputable,  and  filthy 
beyond  belief. 

The  teacher's  lot  in  these  older  one  room  rural  schools 
is  uninviting.  She  may  have  a  table  or  desk  on  which 
to  work  and  a  chair  to  sit  on,  but  she  can  not  count  on 
having  them.  Rarely  is  she  provided  with  a  set  of  text- 
books in  use,  unless  she  purchases  them  out  of  her  meager 
pay.  Of  general  educational  equipment  there  is  little — 
perhaps  a  small  strip  of  composition  blackboard  or  a 
patch  of  painted  wall,  occasionally  a  map  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  not  infrequently  a  small,  ill-kept  and  much  worn 
school  library.  A  young  inexperienced  girl,  placed  in 
one  of  these  shed-like,  poorly  heated,  poorly  ventilated, 
and  poorly  equipped  schoolhouses,  is  expected  to  conduct 
a  school. 

Moreover,  in  far  too  many  cases  the  teacher  is  expected 
to  do  the  janitor  work.  The  sweeping  is  usually  done 
at  the  noon  hour;  the  cloud  of  dust  thus  raised  is  breathed 
by  pupils  returning  from  their  noon  play.  She  is  also 
expected  to  prepare  the  fuel.  The  windfall  pine  is  hauled 
to  the  schoolhouse  and  usually  throwTi  on  the  ground  out- 
side (woodsheds  are  rare),  and  the  teacher  depends  on 


16  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

the  older  boys  to  cut  it  into  stove  lengths.  A  corner  of 
the  schoolroom  provides  the  only  storage  for  fuel  against 
storm  and  rain. 

The  sites  of  these  older  schools — in  fact,  of  almost  all 
the  rural  schools — vary  in  size  from  one  to  two  acres; 
they  are  usually  well  located,  on  a  main  traveled  road, 
but  the  grounds  are  as  a  rule  unimproved  and  without 
play  apparatus.  Even  when  the  teacher  seeks  to  im- 
prove the  grounds,  nature  in  seven  or  eight  months  undoes 
more  than  she  can  do  in  the  course  of  a  school  year  of 
four  or  five  months,  with  the  result  that,  while  many  of 
the  rural  schools  are  picturesque  in  their  setting,  sur- 
rounded by  beautiful  trees,  the  great  majority  have  only 
a  bare  spot  in  front  of  the  schoolhouse  for  play,  with  the 
forest  and  underbrush  crowding  in  on  all  sides. 

The  above  descriptions  answer  also  for  the  older  two 
and  three  room  schoolhouses,  which  are,  usually,  one 
room  buildings  with  an  additional  room  or  two  tacked 
on.  The  new  rooms  are  sometimes  put  at  the  side  of 
the  original  room,  sometimes  at  the  rear,  and  sometimes 
crosswise  at  the  rear.  Whatever  the  method  of  en- 
largement, the  additions  have  the  same  defects  as  the 
original  structure — they  are  poorly  lighted,  poorly  ven- 
tilated, poorly  heated,  poorly  equipped — while  the  new 
rooms  usually  decrease  rather  than  add  to  the  fitness  of 
the  original  room.  Frequently  some  of  its  windows  are 
closed,  so  that  it  is  still  more  inadequately  lighted;  slid- 
ing doors  are  often  placed  between  the  original  room  and 
one  or  both  of  the  new  rooms  to  provide  an  auditorium 
for  school  and  community  gatherings.  Such  a  meeting 
place  is  much  to  be  desired;  nevertheless,  the  sliding 
doors  not  infrequently  reduce  the  blackboard  space  and 
increase  the  general  ugliness  of  the  original  room. 

The  newer  rural  schoolhouses — those  erected  'uithin 
the  last  five  or  six  years — are  different.     These  newer 


OLD  TYPE  ONE  ROOM  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Buildings  and  Equipment  17 

structures  number  about  a  fourth ^  of  all  the  small  rural 
schools,  and  most  of  them,  especially  the  Rosenwald 
colored  schools,  2  represent  a  decided  advance  over  the 
older  buildings  just  described.  They  are  architecturally 
pleasing,  being  painted,  and  having  entrance  porches, 
vestibules,  and  cloak  rooms.  They  are  usually  plastered 
and  decorated,  equipped  ^^-ith  composition  blackboards, 
seated  with  either  double  or  single  patent  desks,  and 
fairly  well  provided  with  educational  equipment.  These 
newer  school  buildings  are  thus  a  great  credit  to  the  state. 
However,  even  some  of  these  are  too  cheapty  built  for 
permanency  and  leave  much  to  be  desired  in  the  way  of 
lighting,  heating,  ventilation,  toilet  and  sanitary  arrange- 
ments. Of  the  very  best  of  the  newly  built  structures, 
few,  with  the  exception  of  some  of  the  Rosenwald  schools, 
have  a  workroom  for  boys  and  girls,  a  place  for  serving 
hot  luncheons  to  children,  or  a  place  for  play  in  bad 
weather,  while  the  patent  heater  is  practically  unknown. 

Larger   Rural  Schoolhouses 

The  larger  rural  schoolhouses,  that  is,  those  having 
four  or  more  rooms  and  located,  mostly,  in  consolidated 
and  special  tax  districts,  are  of  three  principal  types: 
(1)  rambling,  one  story  buildings  that  have  grown  into 
four,  five,  and  even  six  teacher  schools  by  the  addition 
of  one  or  more  rooms  at  a  time  to  an  original  one  or  two 
room  school;  (2)  two  story  frame  structures  of  a  half 
dozen  classrooms;  and  (.3)  brick  buildings. 

The  larger  rural  schoolhouses  of  the  first  type  have 
most  of  the  defects  of  the  older  one  room  school  and  some 


'Between  1913  and  1918  there  were  erected  1,41-1  new  rural  school  buildings  for 
white  children  and  494  for  colored  children. 

=Mr.  Julius  Rosenwald,  of  Chicago,  co-operates  with  local  school  authorities  in 
proWding  rural  schoolhouses  for  colored  children,  contributing,  as  a  rule,  8300 
when  the  authorities  and  the  community  contribute  an  equal  amount,  or  larger 
sums  in  approximately  the  same  ratio.  Up  to  March,  1919,  111  colored  rural  schools 
have  thus  been  built  in  North  Carolina. 


18  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

besides.  They  are,  however,  generally  seated  with  patent 
desks,  fairly  well  equipped  with  instructional  materials, 
and  usually  have  cloak  rooms  and  outside  toilets.  Never- 
theless, they  are  frequently  less  pleasing  in  external 
appearance  than  their  older  prototype,  the  lighting  is 
often  poorer,  the  fire  hazard  from  the  single  stove  is  greater 
and  the  building  as  a  whole  noisier,  more  confused,  and 
more  untidy.  Buildings  of  this  type  are  usually  occupied 
by  mill  children  or  colored  children.  Such  buildings 
can  not  be  condemned  too  strongly,  representing,  as  they 
sometimes  do,  not  so  much  a  lack  of  means,  as  indifference 
to  the  rights  of  children  and  a  desire  to  escape  school 
taxes. 

The  second  type,  or  the  large  two  story  frame  structure, 
provides  for  both  a  rural  elementary  and  high  school, 
and  has  an  auditorium  for  school  and  community  gath- 
erings. As  a  rule  they  displaced  one  or  two  room  schools 
and  in  many  instances  were  a  tremendous  local  advance 
in  school  facilities.  They  likewise  represent  an  awakened 
interest  in  public  education  and  were  often  erected  at 
great  financial  sacrifice.  Some  of  them  are  attractive 
from  the  outside,  but  few^  from  within.  Almost  without 
exception  they  violate  the  principles  of  good  lighting, 
heating,  and  ventilation,  and  the  fire  hazard,  separate 
stoves  being  used,  is  very  great.  However,  in  most  locali- 
ties they  have  served  their  generation  and  must  soon  give 
way  before  the  rising  demand  for  more  appropriate  school 
buildings. 

The  final  type  is  the  large  brick  structure  of  the  con- 
solidated or  special  tax  district.  Of  these  larger  and  more 
substantial  buildings  there  is  at  least  one  in  a  majority 
of  the  counties.  Some  of  them  are  located  in  the  open 
country  and  some  in  villages.  They  are  mainly  of  recent 
date,  and  some  of  them  are  extremely  well  planned, 
following  the  latest  ideas  of  schoolhouse  construction. 
The  classrooms  are  properly  lighted  from  one  side,   ap- 


TYPICAL  RURAL  SCHOOL  OUTHOUSES 


Buildings  and  Equipment  19 

propriately  furnished  with  single  patent  desks,  bookcases, 
teacher's  desk  and  chair,  and  well  provided  "u-ith  instruc- 
tional materials.  They  are  heated  by  steam  or  hot  air, 
artificially  ventilated,  and  have  inside  sanitary  lavatories 
and  toilets.  Besides  the  usual  classrooms,  there  are  one 
or  more  offices  and  teachers'  rooms,  a  library,  science 
laboratories,  cooking  room,  workshop,  the  needed  store- 
rooms, and  an  auditorium;  in  no  instance,  however,  is 
there  a  gymnasium.  In  connection  with  the  best  of 
these  schools,  when  in  the  open  country,  there  are  dor- 
mitories for  boys  and  girls,  and  occasionally  appropriate 
teachers'  homes.  Such  buildings  are  an  honor  to  any 
community  and  represent  the  high-water  mark  of  rural 
educational    sentiment.    * 

However,  of  these  larger  rural  brick  buildings  only  a 
few  possess  the  merits  just  enumerated.  Many  of  them 
have  been  built  too  cheaply  for  permanency  and  are 
faulty  in  construction,  with  bad  classroom  arrangement 
and  lighting,  poor  ventilation,  insanitary  lavatory  and 
toilet  faciUties;  not  infrequently  too  much  has  been  sac- 
rificed, we  believe,  to  the  auditorium.  In  consequence 
of  the  defects  of  many  of  these  larger  brick  buildings 
most  of  them  wall  need  to  be  replaced  at  no  distant  date, 
if  the  children  of  these  prosperous  and  progressive  com- 
munities are  to  be  comfortably  and  healthfully  housed. 
The  sites  of  these  schools  comprise  from  six  to  ten 
acres,  and  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  farm  life  schools 
there  is  usually  a  good-sized  farm  besides.  Sites  of  such 
size  are  ample  for  all  school  purposes,  providing  ample 
grounds,  play  space,  athletic  fields,  and  demonstration 
plots.  So  far  little  has  been  done  to  develop  the  play  and 
athletic  opportunities  of  these  sites,  and  few  are  fur- 
nished with  play  apparatus.  Since  the  modern  school 
is  expected  not  only  to  educate  and  refine  the  children 
but  also  the  adult  population,  the  schoolhouse  and  grounds 

92468 — 3 


20  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

should  be  an  object  lesson  to  all.  In  these  respects  little 
can  be  expected  under  present  conditions  from  the  smaller 
and  older  rural  schools,  but  the  larger  and  best  of  the 
rural  schools  should  be  models  of  cleanliness,  order,  and 
beauty.  Although  most  of  the  larger  schools  are  new, 
yet  it  would  seem  that  more  could  have  been  done  than 
has  been  done  to  beautify  them.  Within  sight  of  many 
are  vines,  shrubs,  and  trees  of  rare  beauty — jasmine, 
honeysuckle,  azaleas,  rhododendrons,  dogwood,  redbud, 
holly,  scarlet  maple,  gum  trees,  pines,  etc.  With  such 
beautiful  material  at  hand,  teachers  and  pupils,  working 
together,  might  make  the  school  grounds  of  the  state 
renowned,  and  not  only  add  to  the  attractiveness  of  the 
schools  themselves,  but  also  strongly  influence  the  move- 
ment for  better  and  more  attractive  homes. 

City  Schoolhousesi 

The  schoolhouses  of  the  cities  may  be  divided  into  older 
and  newer  structures.  The  older  structures,  whether 
they  be  in  the  smaller  or  the  larger  cities,  represent  mostly 
buildings  erected  at  the  time  the  graded  schools  were 
organized,  and  were  built  chiefly  between  1890  and  1910. 

When  the  graded  schools  of  the  cities  were  first  organ- 
ized, the  financial  strain  of  providing  quarters  and  main- 
taining the  schools  was  great.  Consequently,  with  few 
exceptions,  the  buildings  erected  prior  to  1910,  although 
generally  of  brick,  are  very  poor.  Again,  the  original 
defects  of  these  buildings  have  in  many  instances  been 
aggravated  by  additions  made  to  accommodate  increased 
enrollments,  so  that  almost  all  the  older  buildings  are 
now  antiquated  and  unsatisfactory. 

Among  the  newer  structures,  erected  within  the  last 
half  dozen  years,  are  some  excellent  buildings.     These 


'Our  observations  on  city  schools  are  based  on  a  personal  study  of  practically 
all  the  schoolhouses  of  all  the  cities  of  the  state  having  a  population  of  2,500  or 
more  according  to  the  census  of  1910. 


BETTER  TYPE  ONE  ROOM  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Buildings  and  Equipment  21 

present  a  beautiful  exterior  and  interior  appearance, 
are  properly  lighted,  heated,  and  ventilated,  and  are 
provided  with  modern  conveniences,  including  well  equip- 
ped and  ample  play  space,  well  planned  and  improved 
grounds,  and  occasionally  a  gymnasium.  Yet  not  infre- 
quently even  these  newer  buildings  have  been  built 
too  cheaply  and  in  many  instances  have  not  been  care- 
fully planned.  Defects  due  to  lack  of  funds  could  not 
be  avoided,  but  expert  advice  could  have  prevented 
some  of  them.  Probably  three-fourths  of  all  the  city 
schoolhouses  of  the  state,  especially  those  for  colored 
children,  should,  for  sanitary  and  other  reasons,  be  re- 
placed. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  only  problem  facing  the  cities. 
Playgrounds  are  now  a  recognized  essential  of  a  good 
school.  Only  the  most  progressive  cities  have  recognized 
this  requirement,  and  only  a  few  schools,  for  example, 
those  at  Wilmington  and  Winston-Salem,  have  grounds 
ample  for  play  purposes.  Fortunately,  in  most  cities 
play  space  can  still  be  procured  on  reasonable  terms, 
and  no  new  building  should  be  erected  on  grounds  that 
do  not  afford  children  ample  opportunity  for  free  physical 
development. 

To  summarize:  Within  recent  years  great  advances 
have  been  made  throughout  the  state  in  public  school 
buildings.  These  are  being  more  substantially  built, 
and  better  equipped.  Nevertheless,  the  school  building 
situation  is  now  extremely  acute,  first,  because  of  the 
crowded  condition,  especially  in  the  cities,  and,  second, 
because  of  unsatisfactory  sanitary  conditions.  Probably 
three-fourths  of  all  the  rural  and  city  schoolhouses  now 
standing  should  be  replaced. 

The  people  of  the  state  are  aroused  to  the  unsatisfactory 
character  of  their  schoolhouses ;  they  are  hkewise  desirous 
of  rebuilding  them  and  making  them  the    best   possible. 


22         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

Unquestionably,  North  Carolina  has  entered  on  the  great- 
est and  most  extensive  school  building  program  of  its 
history. 

Before  the  state  goes  too  far,  should  not  earnest  con- 
sideration be  given  to  the  following  questions? — 

1.  Is  it  wise  for  North  Carohna  to  continue  to  build 
only  for  the  present?  Has  not  North  Carolina  reached 
the  point  in  its  financial  development  where  it  can  build 
permanently?  Its  entire  rural  school  plant  has  practi- 
cally been  rebuilt  twice  within  the  memory  of  men  now 
living,  first,  between  1876  and  1900,  and  for  the  second 
time  since  1900,  with  probably  three-fourths  of  all  rural 
schoolhouses  again  ready  to  be  displaced  for  the  third 
time.  The  loss  to  the  cities  for  this  same  cause  has  also 
been  great,  but  probably  not  relatively  so  great  as  in  the 
rural  districts.  For  the  state  as  a  Avhole,  out  of  the  pres- 
ent total  investment  of  more  than  fourteen  millions  in 
pubhc  school  buildings,  probably  half,  if  not  more,  has 
been  lost  because  buildings  have  been  constructed  too 
cheaply,  and  with  too  little  reference  to  sound  principles. 

2.  Is  it  wise  for  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  facing  an 
enormous  expenditure  for  public  school  buildings  in  the 
immediate  future,  to  permit  rural  districts  and  cities  to 
go  forward  vnth  buildings  which  are  defective  in  arrange- 
ment, lighting,  heating,  ventilation,  personal  service 
facilities,  etc.?  Has  not  the  time  come  when  the  state, 
through  the  state  department  of  education,  working  in 
co-operation  with  county  and  city  boards  of  education, 
should  exercise  supervision  over  the  planning  and  erec- 
tion of  all  schoolhouses,  to  the  ead  that  these  may  be 
built  in  conformity  to  well  accepted  sanitary,  educational, 
and  social  requirements,  and  that  the  health  of  the  chil- 
dren and  the  purse  of  the  taxpayers  may  both  be  safe- 
guarded? 


III.  COURSES  OF  STUDY  AND  LENGTH  OF  THE 
SCHOOL  TERM 


0 


UITE  as  important  as  good  buildings  and  good 
equipment  in  the  make-up  of  a  good  school  are 
the  course  of  study  and  the  length  of  school  term. 


The  Elementary  Course  of  Study 

The  course  of  study  under  which  the  elementary  schools 
now  operate,  issued  in  1904,  was  revised  in  1909,  in  1917, 
and  in  1919.  Despite  these  revisions,  its  essential  char- 
acter has  remained  throughout  the  same.  When  first 
outlined,  in  1904,  work  was  prescribed  in  seven  different 
studies,  all  to  be  taught  in  each  of  seven  grades,  but  with 
varying  emphasis.     The  several  studies  were  as  follows: 


1. 

Reading 

a.  Spelling 

b.  Literature 

2. 

Language 

3. 
4. 

DraAAdng 
Arithmetic 

5. 
6. 

7. 

History 

Geography 

General :    Health  talks  and  current  history 

The  revision  of  1909  included  nine  required  studies: 
spelhng  was  separated  from  reading,  physiology  substi- 
tuted for  health  talks,  and  agriculture  added.  The  re- 
vision of  1919  required  ten  studies,  hand^mting  being 
elevated  to  a  formal  place  in  the  program;  in  addition, 
courses  were  outlined  for  the  teaching  of  sewing  and  cook- 
ing to  girls  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  grades,  which,  along 
with,  agriculture  and  manual  training,  became  required 
studies  in  1917. 

[23] 


24         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

The  number  of  studies  to  be  taught  in  each  of  the  several 
grades  of  the  elementary  schools  is  large;  but  the  number 
is  not  uncommonly  large,  for  not  infrequently  music, 
free  play  and  physical  education  are  also  required.  The 
amount  and  character  of  the  subject  matter  prescribed, 
the  methods  of  presentation  and  helps  suggested  compare 
favorably  with  similar  efforts  elsewhere.  The  North 
Carolina  course  has,  however,  the  weakness  of  most  seven 
year  programs;  that  is,  about  the  same  amount  of  work 
is  crowded  into  seven  school  years  as  is  ordinarily  found 
in  eight  year  programs. 

The  several  courses  prescribed  for  the  elementary 
schools  of  North  Carolina  also  contain  definite  rules  for 
the  advancement  of  children  from  grade  to  grade.  These 
are  as  follows : 

"If  the  school  year  is  not  long  enough  to  complete 
the  course  in  each  grade  the  work  should  be  continued 
in  the  next  year  until  it  is  completed,  and  the  classes 
show  a  knowledge  sufficient  to  warrant  promotion.  Chil- 
dren should  not  be  permitted  to  pass  from  one  grade  to 
another  until  such  evidence  is  given.  Reading  and  lan- 
guage should  be  the  basis  of  promotion  in  the  first  three 
grades.  The  work  as  outlined  for  each  grade  can  be 
completed  in  about  eight  months.' ' 

Whether  the  state  in  its  attempt  to  improve  rural 
schools  should  have  adopted  a  standard  seven  year  course, 
involving  an  eight  months'  school  year  and  regular  at- 
tendance, is  not  at  issue.  We  can  not,  however,  pass 
over  certain  conditions  that  existed  in  1904  and  mostly 
continue  to  exist,  and  other  conditions  that  have  resulted 
from  the  eft^ort  of  the  rural  schools  to  follow  a  standard 
seven  year  program,  which  affect  unfavorably  their  pres- 
ent efficiency. 

Even  in  large  schools  the  modern  elementary  program 
imposes  a  heavy  burden  upon  teachers.     If  burdensome 


BETTER  TYPE  ONE  ROOM  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Courses  of  Study  and  Length  of  Term   25 

in  large  schools,  where  a  teacher  seldom  has  children  of 
more  than  two  grades  and  the  work  is  often  department- 
alized, what  must  it  be  in  one  and  two  room  schools, 
where  one  teacher  either  has  all  seven  grades  and  a  primer 
class  besides,  or,  at  the  very  least,  not  less  than  three  or 
fom"  different  grades?  ^  An  investigation  by  the  state 
department  in  1904  showed  that  where  one  teacher  taught 
all  the  required  studies,  the  number  of  daily  recitations 
varied  from  thirty-five  to  fifty-five.  At  the  present  time 
the  usual  number  ranges  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-five; 
this  allows  about  ten  minutes  for  each  recitation,  A 
teacher  can  do  little  in  so  brief  a  period.  Moreover, 
the  situation  is  aggravated  by  the  short  school  year 
and  irregular  attendance.  Naturally,  the  shorter  the 
term  and  the  poorer  the  attendance,  the  less  accomplished ; 
and  the  more  studies  attempted,  the  less  achieved  in 
each. 

In  1904,  when  the  present  course  of  study  was  first 
issued,  the  specially  chartered  or  city  schools  were  the 
only  schools  in  the  state  that  had  an  eight  months'  term. 
Of  the  97  counties  at  that  time,  30  had  a  school  term  of 
less  than  four  months,  51  between  four  and  five  months, 
13  between  five  and  six  months,  1  between  six  and  seven 
months,  and  2  a  school  term  of  more  than  seven  months. 
Attendance  was  also  poor;  in  the  cities,  71  per  cent  for 
white  and  57  per  cent  for  colored  children,  and  in  the 
rural  schools  59  per  cent  for  white  children  and  56  per 
cent  for  colored.  Thus,  city  teachers  in  1904  even  in 
white  schools  had,  on  the  average,  approximately  only 
121  days  and  rural  white  teachers  approximately  50 
days  to  complete  an  annual  program  calling  for  an  aver- 
age attendance  of  at  least  144  days.^    Obviously,    the 


iln  1917,  there  were  4,681  schools  with  one  teacher,  and  2,147  schools  with  two 
teachers,  together  constituting  88  per  cent  of  all  the  rural   schools  of  the  state. 

-This  presupposed  an  average  daily  attendance  of  90  per  cent  and  a  school  year  of 
160  days. 


26  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

course  of  study  of  1904  was  ill  adapted  to  actual  con- 
ditions. It  was,  in  fact,  little  more  than  a  goal  to  work 
toward. 

Judged  alone  by  the  length  of  the  school  year,  the 
specially  chartered  or  city  schools  should  now  be  able  to 
follow  the  state  course  of  study.  Rural  conditions,  ex- 
cept in  special  tax  districts,  are,  however,  still  unfavor- 
able to  this  endeavor.  Even  in  1917  61  of  the  hundred 
counties  had  less  than  a  six  months'  school.  The  recent 
constitutional  amendment  -^-ill  help,  and  yet  it  will  doubt- 
less be  some  years  before  any  large  number  of  the  counties 
have  an  eight  months'  term.  Unless  a  simphfied  course 
of  study  is  prescribed,  rural  teachers  will  as  a  rule  continue 
to  face  impossible  conditions — be  called  upon,  as  they 
are,  to  attempt  in  six  months  what,  it  is  officially  acknowl- 
edged, can  not  be  accomplished  in  less  than  eight  or  nine 
months. 

Those  in  authority  were  not  unaware  of  how  poorly 
the  course  of  study  of  1904  and  its  revisions  met  the  actual 
conditions,  but  they  did  not  feel  that  they  could  begin 
at  the  bottom  and  build  up.  With  new-born  enthusiasm 
for  education,  the  people  demanded  schools,  and  common- 
ly supposed  that  one  teacher,  or  certainly  two,  could  cover 
the  elementary  and  secondary  field.  To  dampen  their 
ardor  by  telling  them  that  the  simplest  good  high  school 
requires  at  least  three  teachers,  and  that  a  single  teacher 
vnth  a  four  months'  school  term  could  not  possibly  give 
half  of  a  good  elementary  education  would  have  been 
perhaps  too  discouraging.  Nevertheless,  the  state  su- 
perintendent could  not  refrain  from  uttering  a  solemn 
warning  against  attempting  too  much.  In  his  report 
for  1907,  and  frequently  thereafter,  he  says: 

"The  law  now  ^nsely  forbids  the  teaching  of  any 
high  school  subjects  in  any  school  having  only  one 
teacher.  It  requires,  however,  the  teaching  of  thirteen 
suijjects  in  these  one-teacher  schools.     It  is  absolutely 


Courses  of  Study  and  Length  of  Term   27 

impossible  for  one  teacher,  with  as  many  children  as  are 
to  be  found  in  the  average  rural  school  in  seven  grades, 
to  do  thorough  work  in  so  many  subjects.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  number  of  required  subjects  should  be  reduced 
and  that  the  teacher  in  every  one-teacher  school  should 
be  required  to  devote  more  time — in  fact,  most  of  the 
time — to  teaching  thoroughly  these  fundamental  essen- 
tials of  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  spelling.  It  is 
folly  to  attempt  the  impossible.  In  my  opinion,  at  least 
the  first  four  years  of  the  elementary  school  with  only 
one  teacher  should  be  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  these 
four  subjects,  sandwiching  in  just  enough  of  geography, 
mainly  in  the  form  of  nature  study,  talks  on  everyday 
hygiene,  etc.  to  give  a  little  variety  to  the  course  and  to 
furnish  some  foundation  for  a  little  more  extensive  work 
in  these  and  kindred  subjects  later. " 

Under  present  conditions  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
great  majority  of  the  rural  schools  can  not  and  do  not 
carry  out  the  state  course  of  study.  Their  actual  study 
program,  while  based  on  the  state  course,  is  extremely 
narrow,  particularly  in  the  one  room  schools.  It  consists, 
in  grades  1,  2,  3,  and  4,  almost  exclusively  of  reading, 
writing,  spelling,  and  arithmetic;  seldom  indeed  in  these 
grades  is  there  instruction  in  drawing,  music,  history, 
geography,  physiology,  or  agriculture.  The  three  R's 
are  likewise  prominent  in  the  day's  work  of  the  more 
favored  pupils  who  reach  grades  5,  6,  and  7;  however, 
attention  is  given  in  these  grades  to  geography  and  physi- 
ology, and  a  little  to  history,. with  an  occasional  reading 
lesson  in  agriculture.  Cooking  and  sewing  for  girls  and 
handwork  for  boys  are  almost  unknown  in  the  white 
schools,  but  a  little  in  these  activities  is  frequently  at- 
tempted under  the  direction  of  the  Jeanes  teachers  in 
colored  schools.  While  a  few  counties  are  introducing 
medical  inspection,  and  two  or  three  have  play  directors, 
in  most  schools  nothing  is  done  for  the  physical  life  of 


28  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

the  children.  It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  state  should 
provide  for  the  children  of  the  open  country  the  advan- 
tages of  a  diversified  school  program.  But  the  most 
competent  to  judge  hold  that  it  is  impracticable  to  secure 
everything  in  the  small  rural  school.  The  excellent  new 
compulsory  attendance  law  providing  attendance  officers 
will  better  conditions,  as  also  would  a  longer  school  year, 
a  simpler  course  of  study  and  fewer  grades,  but  these 
will  never  do  away  with  the  need  of  consolidating  small 
rural  schools  wherever  possible. 

Even  the  larger  rural  and  city  schools  have  difficulty 
in  carrying  out  the  present  course  of  study.  This  is  not 
due  to  the  shortness  of  the  school  year — for  the  school 
year  in  such  schools  is  usually  eight  to  nine  months — 
but,  in  the  larger  rural  schools,  to  the  irregularity  of 
attendance,  and,  in  the  city  schools,  more  particularly 
to  the  shortness  of  the  school  day  in  the  three  lower 
grades.  Principally  for  these  reasons,  even  in  the  larger 
rural  and  city  schools  the  first  three  grades  rarely  include 
more  than  reading,  spelling,  language,  WTiting,  and  arith- 
metic, with  a  little  singing  and  drawing. 

More  than  this  might  reasonably  be  expected  of  the 
cities  but  for  the  shortened  school  day  in  the  lower  grades. 
A  single  long  session  of  three  and  a  half  to  four  and  a  half 
hours,  with  thirty  or  forty  minutes  at  noon  for  luncheon 
at  school,  does  not  suffice  for  more.'  A  school  day  of 
this  length  and  character  is  objectionable,  first  on  physical 
grounds,  because  it  violates  well  established  laws  of  health 
and  of  physical  development,  and  second,  on  educational 
grounds,  because  it  makes  impossible,  owing  to  the  lack 
of  time,  a  modern  primary  program,  including  besides 
the  fundamentals,  music,  free  play,  physical  education, 
handwork,  and  elementary  school  science. 

'The  average  instruction  time,  in  minutes,  for  the  several  grades  in  52  of  the 
136  specially  chartered  districts  was,  in  1919-1920,  as  follows:  1st  grade,  213;  2d 
grade,  240;  3d  grade,  265;  4th  grade,  283;  5th  grade,  28";  6th  grade,  291;  7th  grade, 
298. 


OLD  TYPE  MEDIUM  SIZED  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Courses  of  Study  and  Length  of  Term   29 

Reading,  spelling,  writing,  and  arithmetic  also  make  up 
the  bulk  of  the  upper  grade  instruction  in  both  the  larger 
rural  and  city  schools,  although  considerably  more  time 
is  given  in  the  larger  schools  to  physiology,  geography, 
and  history,  and  occasionally  something  worth  while  is 
done  in  agriculture.  In  a  few  drawing  receives  commend- 
able attention;  in  still  fewer  manual  training  is  provided 
for  boys  and  cooking  and  sewing  for  girls — more  fre- 
quently, however,  in  colored  than  in  white  schools.  Free 
play  and  physical  education  are  neglected,  with  some 
notable  exceptions,  among  which  are  Asheville,  Winston- 
Salem,  and  Wilmington. 

Pupil  Progress  in  the  Elementary  School 

How  successful  the  elementary  schools  are  in  carrying 
out  their  narrow  and  formal  course  of  study  wall  be  con- 
sidered in  the  chapter  on  instruction.  In  this  connection 
we  must  point  out  the  immediate  consequence  of  a  short- 
ened school  year  and  poor  attendance  when  promotion  is 
based  on  standards  that  presuppose  good  attendance 
during  a  longer  term.  Obviously,  large  numbers  of  pupils 
must,  under  these  conditions,  fail  to  pass.  They  there- 
fore either  drop  out  of  school  or  repeat  the  grade  in 
which  they  fail. 

If  children  entered  school  at  about  six  years  of  age, 
and  advanced  regularly,  there  would  be  almost  as  many 
children  in  one  grade  as  another,  and  all  the  children 
in  the  same- grade  would  be  about  the  same  age.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  approximately  a  third  of  all  the  children 
in  our  rural  white  elementary  schools  are  in  the  first  grade, 
and  approximately  a  half  in  grades  1  and  2.'  The  ages 
of  a  single  class  in  these  grades  often  range  from  kinder- 


iThe  rural  school  enrollment  by  grades  for  the  state  is  not  available.  We  have 
this  for  four  counties.  For  the  age-grade  distribution  of  Guilford  County,  see 
page  30. 


30 


Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 


garten  to  first  year  high  school.  For  example,  one  primary- 
class  was  made  up  as  follows : 

2  children  six  years  of  age 

4     children  seven  years  of  age 

3  children  eight  years  of  age 
6  children  nine  years  of  age 
2     children  ten  years  of  age 

1     child  eleven  years  of  age 

1     child  twelve  years  of  age 

1  child  thirteen  years  of  age 
The  congestion  of  children  in  the  lower  grades,  and 
the  striking  difference  in  the  ages  of  children  in  the  same 
grade,  clearly  demonstrate  that  children  do  not  pass 
smoothly  through  the  schools,  going  at  regular  annual 
intervals  from  one  grade  to  the  next.  They  mostly  re- 
main in  each  of  the  three  lower  grades  two  and  sometimes 
three  years,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  children  to 
spend  two  or  three  years  in  a  higher  grade. 

How  far  in  the  school  rural  white  children  on  the  aver- 
age actually  advance  it  is  impossible  to  state  with  cer- 
tainty.    The  data  at  hand^  suggest  that  approximately 


'Age-Grade  Distrii 

UTioN  OF  White  Pupils  in 

Gdilforo  County, 

June 

,  1920 

e 

AGES 

Grade 

5 
23 

23 
23 

6 

465 
4 
1 

470 
470 

7 

463 
61 
6 

530 
530 

8 

341 

207 
70 

7 

1 

626 
626 

9 

174 
168 
149 
63 
6 

560 
560 

10 

91 
117 
185 
128 

50 
5 

576 



576 

11 

37 
54 
105 
176 
124 
38 
2 

536 
536 

12 

21 
34 
74 
125 
132 
98 
25 

509 

1 

1 
510 

13 

12 
17 
42 

77 
87 
124 
56 

415 

10 

1 

11 

426 

14 

2 
14 
13 

29 
45 
93 
68 

264 

20 
5 
1 

26 

290 

15 

3 
2 
6 
13 
18 
55 
67 

164 

24 
7 
4 

35 

199 

16 

1 

1 

5 

6 

29 

48 

90 

31 

29 

4 

3 

67 

157 

17 

1 
1 

2 
8 
23 

35 

29 
19 
12 

7 

67 
102 

18 

1 

1 
4 
9 

15 

3 
10 

7 
10 

30 

45 

19 

1 

4 

5 

4 
1 
5 
5 

15 

20 

20 

2 
2 

1 
2 
6 

9 

11 

21 

1 
7 

8 

8 

Total 

1          

1,634 

2                

680 

3                  

652 

4                       . 

623 

5      

472 

6           

455 

7             

304 

Total  Elementary 

4,820 

1st  High._. 

2d  High 

122 
73 

3d  High 

36 

4tli  High 

38 

Total  High 

269 

Grand  Total 

5,089 

Courses  of  Study  and  Length  of  Term        31 

50  per  cent,  of  them  never  go  beyond  the  sixth  grade. 
That  is,  about  half  the  children  miss  altogether  the  richer 
portions  of  the  school  program,  including  literature, 
advanced  geography,  history — studies  that  make  for  per- 
sonal and  civic  ideals.  Their  entire  school  life  is  thus 
spent  in  the  mastery  of  the  mere  technique  of  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic,  and  even  this  they  accomplish 
sometimes  with  so  little  success  that  after  a  few  years 
out  of  school  some  may  be  classed  as  iUiterates. 

Conditions  in  the  cities  are  better,  but  even  in  the  cities 
there  is  sad  irregularity  in  pupil  advancement.  For  ex- 
ample, in  June,  1919,  some  thirteen  year  old  white  chil- 
dren were  found  in  the  first  grade,  while  others  of  the  same 
age  had  reached  the  third  year  of  high  school — a  gross 
difference  of  nine  years  in  school  progress  among  children 
of  the  same  age.  In  fact,  the  3,934  thirteen  year  old 
children  of  the  larger  cities  of  the  state  were,  in  June, 
1919,  scattered  among  the  different  grades  as  follows: 

21  in  the  the  first  grade 
45  in  the  second  grade 
137  in  the  third  grade 
285  in  the  fourth  grade 
689  in  the  fifth  grade 
1,042  in  the  sixth  grade 
1,056  in  the  seventh  grade 
552  in  the  first  year  of  high  school 
101  in   the   second  year   of  high   school 
6  in  the  third  year  of  high  school 

If  these  thirteen  year  old  children  had  all  entered 
school  at  the  same  age  and  had  advanced  regularly, 
none  of  them  would  be  below  the  seventh  grade;  as  it  is, 
over  half  of  them  are  below  that  grade. 

M  the  same  time  14,750,  or  37  per  cent  of  the  entire 
elementary  school  enrollment  of  the  larger  cities,  were 
behind  the  grade  they  should  be  in  for  their  age.     Of 


32  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 


1042 


iOJ6 


21 

^  "m 

Figure  4 
Distribution  of  White  Thirteen  Year  Old  Children  of  Cities,  by  Grades 

these,  7,745  were  behind  one  grade;  4,110,  two  grades; 
1,805,  three  grades;  744,  four  grades;  and  346,  five  or 
more  grades.  ^  In  their  discouragement,  they  leave  school 
altogether;  approximately  25  per  cent  of  all  the  children 
of  the  larger  cities  drop  out  before  they  are  fourteen  years 
old,  and  approximately  35  per  cent  never  go  beyond  the 
sixth  grade;  they  therefore  enter  on  the  duties  and  obli- 
gations of  personal  and  civic  life  in  command  only  of  the 
rudiments  of  the  three  R's. 

With  approximately  half  of  the  white  rural  population 
and  approximately  a  third  of  the  white  city  popula- 
tion with  a  sixth  grade  education  or  less,  and  this,  as  we 
shall  see,  of  poor  quality,  we  face  a  serious  situation,  call" 
ing  for  heroic  action.  The  rural  school  year  and  the  city 
school  day  should  be  lengthened;  all  children,  rural  and 
city,  should  be  gotten  into  school  as  soon  after  six  years 

'See  table  on  following  page. 


Courses  of  Study  and  Length  of  Term 


33 


of  age  as  is  possible,  and  kept  regularly  in  attendance ; 
small  rural  schools  should  be  consolidated,  and  an  ele- 
mentar}'-  course  of  study  better  adapted  to  prevailing 
rural  conditions  should  be  provided. 

The  High  School  Course  of  Study 
The  high  schools  are  laboring  under  similar  unfavor- 
able conditions.  When,  in  1908,  the  high  school  became 
a  recognized  part  of  the  general  school  organization,  there 
were  in  operation  132  county  and  81  city  or  town  high 
schools,  a  total  of  213.  Ten  years  later,  1918,  the  county 
high  schools  numbered  209,  the  city  or  local,  149,  a  total 


Age-Grade  Distribution 

OF  White  Pupils 

IN  Thirty-five   Cities, 

June,  1919 

AGES 

Gd. 

Total 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

• 

1 

24 

3585 

2686 

1268 

523 

244 

139 

67 

21 

8 

1 

8,566 

2 

55 

1831 

2117 

1142 

600 

253 

122 

45 

10 

2 

2 

2 

6,181 

3 

115 

1606 

2051 

1198 

645 

329 

137 

49 

16 

3 

1 

6,150 

4 

8 

177 

1253 

1831 

1107 

654 

285 

119 

32 

10 

2 

5,478 

5 

4 

158 

1249 

1638 

1184 

689 

284 

107 

36 

5 

1 

1 

5,356 

6 

9 

125 

867 

1442 

1042 

543 

236 

70 

10 

5 

1 

4,350 

7 

7 

113 

746 

1056 

804 

456 

174 

50 

14 

2 

3,422 

Total 

Ele- 

men- 

tary 

24 

3640 

4640 

5172 

5136 

5254 

4762 

4544 

3275 

1817 

850 

295 

70 

20 

2 

2 

39,503 

1st 

High 

8 

98 

552 

845 

735 

383 

151 

50 

11 

4 

2 

2,839 

2d 

High 

1 

8 

101 

435 

611 

474 

180 

71 

16 

3 

3 

1,903 

3d 

High 

6 

69 

285 

442 

311 

103 

34 

3 

1 

1,254 

4th 

High 

8 

54 

245 

326 

171 

60 

19 

4 

878 

Total 

High 

9 

106 

659 

1357 

1685 

1544 

968 

395 

121 

29 

10 

6,883 

Gnd. 

Total 

24 

3640 

4640 

5172 

5136 

5254 

4771 

4650 

3934 

3174 

2535 

1839 

1038 

415 

123 

31 

10 

46,386 

34         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

of  358.  There  were,  in  addition,  literally  hundreds  of  one 
and  two  teacher  elementary  schools  giving  some  high 
school  instruction.! 

If  all  these  high  schools  were  well  maintained,  well 
organized,  and  well  equipped,  the  state  would  indeed 
be  well  supplied.  But  is  it?  Moved  by  community 
rivalry  and  spurred  on  not  infrequently  by  an  ambitious 
principal  or  teacher,  each  considerable  community  wants 
its  own  high  school.  Its  school  must  offer  as  extended 
a  program,  attempt  to  do  as  much  as  any  neighboring 
school,  irrespective  of  obvious  differences  in  resources, 
such  as  building  facilities,  length  of  term,  number  of 
teachers,  and  equipment.  The  result  has  been  needless 
multiplication  and  the  establishment  of  scores  of  high 
schools  under  unfavorable  conditions.  The  establishment 
of  high  schools  under  unfavorable  conditions  is  in  itself 
not'  significant,  for  the  way  to  begin  is  to  begin;  but  the 
overweening  ambition  of  high  schools  unfavorably  cir- 
cumstanced is  indeed  a  matter  that  demands  attention. 

We  do  not  wish  to  lay  down  the  conditions  that  should 
control  the  establishment  of  high  schools  and  what  they 
should  attempt.  There  are,  however,  well  defined  re- 
quirements, as  respects  length  of  school  year  and  the 
number  of  teachers  to  be  employed,  generally  recognized 
as  essential  to  the  satisfactory  conduct  of  a  standard 
high  school,  that  is,  a  high  school  offering  a  four  year 
course  of  study.  As  suggested  by  the  state  school  author- 
ities and  laid  down  later  by  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  these  essential  requirements  are  approximate- 
ly as  follows:  a  high  school  year  of  from  thirty-two  to 
thirty-six  weeks,  a  four  year  course,  and  not  less  than 
three  full  time  teachers. 

Few  schools  in  1908  could  meet  these  standards,  and 
only  a  few  reported  four  years  courses — five  in  the  counties 


iThe  high  school  inspector  estimated  the  number  in   1908-1909  at  800,    and    doubt- 
less the  number  is  quite  as  large  now. 


OLD  TYPE  MEDIUM  SIZED  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Courses  of  Study  and  Length  of  Term   35 

and  nine  in  the  cities  and  towns.  In  1918,  127  in  the 
counties  and  98  in  the  cities  and  towns  carried  four  year 
programs.  Of  these  only  30  in  the  counties  and  only  74 
in  the  cities  and  towns  had  terms  of  thirty-two  to  thirty- 
six  weeks  and  three  or  more  teachers.  While  it  is  there- 
fore correct  to  report  North  Carolina  as  having  a  total  of 
358  public  high  schools,  there  are  in  the  entire  state  prob- 
ably not  more  than  104  capable  of  giving  four  years  of 
satisfactory  high  school  instruction,  even  though  there  are 
225  which  attempt  four  year  programs.  On  the  basis  of 
the  accredited  high  school  list  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  12  counties  have  both  city  and  rural  standard 
four  year  high  schools;  3  counties  have  only  rural;  46  have 
only  city;  and  39  counties  have  neither  rural  nor  city;  that 
is,  85  counties  have  no  standard  rural  high  schools.  This 
woeful  lack  of  standard  rural  high  schools  largely  explains 
why  the  National  Bureau  of  Education  ranks  North 
CaroHna  third  from  the  bottom  among  the  states  in  high 
school  enrollment.  Much  progress  has,  indeed,  been 
made  in  a  decade,  but  there  is  a  long  way  yet  to  go  before 
the  state  can  be  said  to  possess  a  sound  or  adequate  high 
school  system. 

In  considering  the  high  schools,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  each  specially  chartered  district,  until  1919-1920,  bore 
the  entire  expense  of  its  high  school  and  its  will  was  law. 
Each  was  free,  if  it  so  desired,  to  establish  a  high  school, 
to  adopt  its  own  course  of  study,  determine  the  length 
of  the  course,  fix  the  length  of  the  high  school  term,  and 
employ  such  high  school  teachers  as  it  saw  fit.  Under 
this  reign  of  high  school  freedom,  all  kinds  of  city  and 
town  high  schools  grew  up.  Some  have  two,  some  three, 
and  some  four  year  courses;  the  high  school  term  ranges 
from  twenty-eight  to  thirty-eight  weeks,  and  4  have  a 
single  teacher. 

Of  the  rural  high  schools,  the  state  authorities  have 
had  supervision,  until  recently,  of  only  those  receiving 

92468 — 4 


36         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

state  aid — the  so-called  county  high  schools.  The  reg- 
ulations imposed  on  these  county  high  schools  have  had 
to  do  chiefly  wdth  their  establishment  and  the  granting 
to  them  of  state  aid.  Owing  to  their  rapid  development 
and  the  many  problems  related  to  their  establishment, 
it  was  impossible  to  supervise  them  closely,  although 
as  much  as  possible  was  done  to  regulate  their  organi- 
zation and  to  promote  their  efficiency. 

For  the  use  of  county  high  schools  and  for  any  others 
that  might  choose  to  adopt  them,  three  courses  of  study 
were  outlined:  (1)  a  classical  course;  (2)  a  Latin-scientific 
course;  and  (3)  a  modern  language  course. ^  These  are 
all  four  year  courses,  calling  for  a  thirty-six  week  school 
year.  These  outlines  conform  to  good  high  school  prac- 
tice and  remain  much  today  as  when  first  prescribed. 

In  undertaking  to  carry  four  year  standard  courses,  the 
high  schools  of  the  state,  whether  county  or  city  or  town, 
were  in  about  the  same  position  as  the  elementary  schools 
when  they  attempted  corresponding  standard  courses; 
that  is,  the  high  schools  were  greatly  disadvantaged  by 
shortness  of  term,  lack  of  teachers,  and  inadequate  equip- 
ment. For  example,  when  these  standard  courses,  calling 
for  a  thirty-six  week  high  school  term,  were  first  outlined 
in  1907,  only  40  of  the  177  pubhc  high  schools  reporting 
had  thirty-six  week  terms,  and  as  late  as  1917-1918  only 
47  of  the  358  could  boast  a  school  year  of  such  length. 
Thus,  through  all  these  years,  the  majority  of  public 
high  schools  have  striven  to  do  a  third  to  a  fourth  more 
in  a  given  time  than  is  commonly  undertaken,  and  they 
have  attempted  this,  too,  wdth  pupils  who  have  had  only 
a  seven  year  elementary  training. 

Moreover,  in  most  instances,  the  inadequacy  of  the 
teaching  force  still  further  lowered  the  quality  of  the 


'A  country  life  curriculum  and  a  farm  life  curriculum  were  subsequently  pro- 
vided, to  be  used  in  farm  life  schools  and  in  high  schools  that  have  agricultural 
and  home  economies  departments. 


Courses  of  Study  and  Length  of  Term   37 

instruction.  The  state  authorities  suggested  in  1910  that 
high  schools  with  one  teacher  should  not  attempt  more 
than  a  two  year  course.  If  no  electives  were  offered, 
two  teachers  might  undertake  a  four  year  program,  but 
if  electives  were  offered,  three  teachers  were  held  to  be 
required.  In  1917-1918  almost  a  third  of  all  public  high 
schools  had  less  than  two  teachers.  Yet  few  of  these 
schools  limited  their  program  to  two  years;  a  majority 
carried  three  year  and  some  attempted  four  year  programs. 
On  the  other  hand,  very  few  two  teacher  schools  fail  to 
offer  electives,  so  that  we  find  two  teachers  generally 
attempting  what  state  school  authorities  hold  should  not 
be  undertaken  by  less  than  three. 

The  Latin-scientific  course  is  usually  found  in  one 
teacher  schools ;  schools  of  two  or  more  teachers  generally 
offer  both  the  Latin-scientific  and  modern  language 
courses,  while  farm  life  schools  and  schools  having  agri- 
cultural and  home  economics  departments  follow  either 
the  farm  life  or  rural  life  curriculum,  and  offer,  besides, 
the  Latin-scientific  course.  But  whatever  the  course 
supposedly  followed,  outside  of  a  half  dozen  farm  life 
schools,  a  score  of  county  schools  having  agricultural 
and  home  economics  departments,  and  fifteen  to  twenty 
of  the  largest  city  high  schools,  all  the  rest  teach  in  vary- 
ing proportion  about  the  same  things,  chiefly  Latin, 
English,  mathematics,  and  modern  languages,  wath  some 
history  and  a  little  science.  For  example,  in  1917-1918 
14,993  children  studied  Latin,  as  against  2,688  in  Ameri- 
can history  and  217  in  North  Carolina  history.  At  the 
same  time  3,368  pursued  French,  as  compared  with 
3,820  in  home  economics,  1,037  in  agriculture,  1,453  in 
physics,  656  in  botany,  and  108  in  sociology.  Greater 
emphasis  on  history  and  civics,  on  home  economics, 
agriculture,  and  science — in  a  word,  on  the  more  modern 
and  the  more  practical  activities — is  much  to  be  desired. 
The  colleges  of  the  state  have  also  a  duty  to  perform  in 


38         Public  Education  ix  North  Carolina 

this  connection,  for  much  of  the  emphasis  upon  the  more 
formal  studies  by  the  high  schools  is  due  to  the  character 
of  the  prevailing  college  entrance  requirements. 

State  authorities  have  not  been  unmindful  of  these 
unsatisfactory  conditions.  They  have  earnestly  dis- 
couraged the  organization  of  small  rural  high  schools ;  but 
in  these  efforts  they  have  been  greatl}^  handicapped,  for 
the  high  school  law  of  1907  permitted  the  organization 
of  county  high  schools  on  impossible  terms.  The  local 
community  had  only  to  raise  bj'  taxation,  private  sub- 
scription or  other-u-ise,  S2o0  annually  for  instruction — 
to  be  duplicated  by  the  state — and  to  maintain  a  seven 
months'  high  school  term.  On  such  simple  conditions, 
as  many  as  four  so-called  state  high  schools  might  be 
established  in  any  one  county. 

As  a  substitute  for  the  small  high  school,  state  authori- 
ties urged  the  establishment  of  county  farm  life  schools' — 
a  central  high  school  to  serve  the  entire  county.  At  the 
present  time  there  is  only  one  such  school  in  the  state, 
that  in  Craven  County,  although  there  are  a  few  others 
that  serve  a  county-wide  purpose.  To  the  same  end, 
the  way  was  opened  for  the  establishment  of  special  de- 
partments of  agriculture  and  of  the  household  arts.* 
Twenty-nine  high  schools  in  twenty-two  counties  now 
have  such  departments,  and  by  reason  of  the  Smith- 
Hughes  funds  available  for  industrial  work  the  number 
will  doubtless  increase  rapidly  in  the  immediate    future. 

A  decrease  in  the  number  of  small  high  schools  is  much 
to  be  de.sired.  An  efficient  high  school  can  not  be  main- 
tained at  every  crossroad;  the  cost  is  prohibitive.  The 
time  is  undoubtedly  at  hand  when  every  county  should 
be  laid  off  into  high  school  districts,  each  large  enough 
to  warrant  development  of  a  high  school  A\dth  not  less 

'The  law  permitting  the  establishment  of  such  high  schools  was  enacted  in    1911. 

^The  Guilford  County  Farm  Life  School  Law,  making  possible  the  establishment 
of  such  departments,  was  passed  in  1911,  and  made  applicable  to  all  the  counties  of 
the  state  in  1913. 


Johnston  County 


Richmond  County 


NEW  TYPE  MEDIUM  SIZED  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Courses  of  Study  and  Length  of  Term   39 

than  five  or  six  teachers.  For  boys  and  girls  living  beyond 
reach  of  a  district  high  school,  dormitories  should  be 
erected  at  a  central  school,  thus  offering  at  a  minimum 
cost  good  high  school  advantages  to  all  the  children  of 
the  county. 

State  school  officials  have  also  labored  in  other  ways 
to  improve  the  situation.  In  1917  the  high  school  law 
was  so  revised  that  it  prohibited  the  granting  of  state 
aid  to  any  rural  high  school  having  an  average  daily  at- 
tendance of  less  than  twenty  pupils,  and  the  amount  of 
state  aid  above  the  minimum  of  $200  to  be  granted  to 
any  school  was  conditioned,  first,  on  average  daily  at- 
tendance; second,  on  the  number  of  full  time  high  school 
teachers  employed;  and,  third,  on  the  grade  and  character 
of  the  work  done — powerful  incentives  to  improvement. 
The  state  board  of  education  also  evolved  a  compre- 
hensive plan  for  classifying  rural  high  schools,  so  that 
each  might  know  its  ranking  as  determined  by  its  re- 
sources and  the  quality  of  its  instruction.  The  war, 
however,    interfered   "«dth    the   execution   of   this   plan. 

In  the  meantime,  a  new  epoch  in  high  school  devel- 
opment has  dawned.  A  supreme  court  decision  of  1917 
made  the  high  school  an  integral  part  of  the  public  school 
system,  so  that  high  schools  may  be  supported  hereafter 
by  public  taxation  in  the  same  manner  as  elementary 
schools.  Carrying  out  the  spirit  of  this  decision,  all 
former  distinctions  were  abolished  in  1919  between  state- 
aided  or  county  high  schools  and  other  high  schools, 
such  as  local,  city,  or  town.  The  state  now  shares  equally 
and  alike  in  the  support  of  all.  The  high  schools  are 
now  also  to  have  the  entire  timie  of  the  state  high  school 
inspector,  attached  to  the  state  department  of  education. 

Sharing  as  the  state  now  does  in  the  financial  support 
of  all  high  schools,  its  supervisory  authority  should  be 
exercised  over  all — rural,  city,  and  towm.  High  school 
instruction  should  be  completely  eliminated  from  one, 


40  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

two,  and  three  teacher  elementary  schools;  small  high 
schools  should  be  aboHshed  and  the  development  of  large 
district  high  schools  insisted  upon;  schools  should  be 
limited  in  their  curricula  on  the  basis  of  the  length  of 
term  and  the  number  of  teachers  employed,  and  they 
should  be  classified  and  ranked  according  to  their  re- 
sources and  the  grade  and  quality  of  their  instruction; 
courses  of  study  should  be  devised  particularly  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  rural  children  and  to  working  conditions 
that  obtain  in  the  rural  high  schools.  All  high  schools 
should  use  the  same  record  system.  The  state  should 
issue  all  diplomas,  and  these  should  show  precisely  what 
the  pupil  has  done,  and  the  rank  and  grade  of  the  school. 
And  the  non-technical  colleges  of  the  state  ought  to  pro- 
vide a  general  college  course  to  which  graduates  of  stand- 
ard high  schools  may  be  admitted  without  condition, 
irrespective  of  the  particular  high  school  course  pursued. 


IV.     THE  TEACHERS 

GOOD  TEACHERS  are  able  to  overcome  partly 
even  such  great  handicaps  as  poor  buildings, 
inadequate  equipment,  short  school  terms,  poor 
attendance,  and  ill  adapted  courses  of  study.  The  hope 
of  a  state  lies,  therefore,  fundamentally  in  its  teachers. 
If  its  teachers  are  superior,  the  work  of  the  schools,  even 
under  adverse  conditions,  may  be  fairly  satisfactory. 
If,  however,  its  teachers  as  a  body  are  ill  prepared  and 
inexperienced,  then  a  state  has  little  reason  to  expect 
efficiency.  What  is  the  preparation  and  experience  of 
our  teachers? 

The  general  situation  is  easily  described.  Of  the  12,622 
white  teachers  and  principals  in  service  in  1919-1920,  only 
2,549,  or  20  per  cent,  hold  professional  certificates,  that 
is,  certificates  showing  satisfactory  training  for  teaching. 
On  the  other  hand  only  245  of  the  3,690  colored  teachers, 
or  7  per  cent,  hold  such  certificates  and  can  be  said  to 
be  properly  prepared  for  their  work. 

However,  any  statement  about  the  preparation  of 
teachers  should  also  take  account  of  the  actual  grade  of 
school  work  they  have  completed.  After  repeated  efforts 
detailed  information  as  to  preparation  and  experience 
was  procured  from  9,800  out  of  11,712  white  teachers, 
and  from  2,357^  out  of  3,251  colored  teachers  in  service 
in    1918-1919. 

Preparation    of  Colored  Teachers 
From  the  data  sought,  it  should  have  been  possible 
to  determine  the  number  of  teachers  who  had  not  gone 
further  than  the  elementary  school,  the  number  stopping 


iThe  Jeanes  teachers  or  colored  supervisors  are  included  in  this    number. 

[411 


42 


Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 


with  the  high  school,  the  number  taking  full  normal 
school  courses,  etc.  But  in  the  case  of  the  colored  teachers 
the  data  obtained  could  not  be  satisfactorily  tabulated. 
A  teacher  might  report,  for  example,  that  she  had  attended 
college  for  a  given  period,  but  from  the  facts  furnished 
we  were  often  unable  to  determine  whether  she  was  in 
the  elementary,  the  high  school,  or  the  college  depart- 
ment; or  she  might  report  graduation,  but  we  were  gen- 
erally unable  to  tell  whether  this  was  from  the  college 
proper  or  from  the  preparatory  school. 

Roughly  tabulated,  the  returns  from  the  2,357  colored 
teachers  reporting  show  their  schooling  to  be  as  follows: 


Public 
Elementary 
School  Only 

County 
Training 
Schools 

State 
Training 
Schools 

Private 
Schools 
in  State 

Schools 
Outside 
the  State 

Total 

Attending 

406 

10 

197 

667 

134 

1,414 

Attending 

and 
graduat'g' 

7 

148 

648 

140 

943 

Total 

406 

17 

345 

1,315 

274 

2,357 

From  these  data  it  appears  that  17  per  cent  of  the 
colored  teachers  have  not  gone  further  than  the  public 
elementary  school,  that  43  per  cent  have  probably  had 
more  than  an  elementary  schooling  but  less  than  a  high 
school  course,  2  that  35  per  cent  have  had  probably  the 
equivalent  of  a  high  school  education,'  and  that  5  per  cent 
have    graduated    from    schools    claiming    college    rank. 


'Six  reported  graduation  from  the  Agricultural  and  Technical  College;  13  from 
Biddle;  73  from  Shaw;  2  from  Fiske;  15  from  Hampton;  2  from  Howard;  and 
3  from  Tuskegee. 

2This  is  on  the  assumption  that  teachers  reporting  attendance  at  schools  other 
than  public  elementary  schools  have  done  work  of  high  school    grade. 

3This  is  on  the  assumption  that  all  the  schools  reported,  except  those  enumerated 
in  note  1,  are  of  high  school  grade. 


The  Teachers  43 

Preparation  of  High  School  Teachers 
The   tabulation   of  returns   made   by   white   teachers 
was  also  difficult.     The  888  high  school  teachers  reporting 
show  education  and  training  approximately  as  follows: 

Number  Per  Cent 

Part  high  school. . 16  1.8 

Full  high  school 45  5.1 

Part  normal  school 3  .3 

Full  normal  school 26  2.9 

PartcoUege 259  29.2 

Full  college  or  more- 526  59.2 

Unclassified  and  unknown 13  1.5 

fklJ  ■    16 

HIGH   3CH00L    I 

fULL  ^m     ^5 

NIGH    3CH00L   B 

f^LT  I     3 

KOLHM  SCHOOL  | 

FULL  ■      26 

HOILNAL  KHOOL    ■ 

«»IIILT  ^^^^^^^m      Z59 

PULL  ||^^^^^^^^^mH|^^H|H     526 

UNCLASSIFIED  |    13 

FiGTJBE    5 

Preparation  of  White  High  School  Teachers 

These  figures  indicate  that  59  per  cent  of  the  high  school 
teachers  reporting  had  four  years  in  college  or  more, 
sufficient,  if  bona  fide  college  work,  to  enable  them  to 
meet  the  usual  minimum  standards  for  high  school  teach- 
ing. But  78  of  those  reporting  four  years  in  college  are 
graduates  of  what  are  known  as  "B"  or  non-standard 
colleges,  and  have  not  had  full  college  courses.     If  these 


44  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

non-standard  college  graduates  are  eliminated,  it  leaves 
North  Carolina,  on  the  basis  of  our  returns,  with  50  per 
cent  of  its  high  school  teachers  able  to  meet  the  usual 
requirements  for  high  school  teaching.  We  are,  therefore, 
certainly  within  the  facts  in  saying  that  at  least  a  half 
of  all  the  high  school  teachers  of  the  state  are  without 
adequate  preparation.  At  that,  the  high  school  situation 
is  encouraging,  for  such  a  proportion  of  unprepared  high 
school   teachers,    while   lamentable,    is   not   uncommon. 

Preparation  of  Elementary  Teachers 
The  returns  from  the  elementary  teachers  show  their 
education  to  be  as  follows : 

Number  Per  Cent 

Elementary  school  only 580  6 . 5 

Part  high  school 2,418  27.1 

Full  high  school 1,613  18.1 

Part  normal  school 324  3.6 

Full  normal  school 565  6.3 

Partcollege 2,222  25.0 

lyear 907  10.2 

2  years ---         827  9.3 

3  years 488  5.5 

Full  college  or  more 793  8.9 

Unclassified  and  unknown...        397  4.5 

The  outstanding  fact  about  these  returns  is  the  large 
proportion  of  elementary  teachers  who  have  received 
their  training  in  college — approximately  34  per  cent. 
This  is  unusual,  but  the  explanation  is  simple.  Colleges, 
particularly  private  colleges  with  preparatory  depart- 
ments, have  for  years  been  relatively  numerous,  and 
many  of  them  claim  to  prepare  both  elementary  and  high 
school  teachers.  It  is  thus  natural  that  our  teachers  should 
enter  the  profession  by  way  of  the  college,  and  not  by 
way  of  the  normal  school — a  reversal  of  common  practice. 

From  the  returns  themselves  it  would  appear  that 
almost  a  third  of  the  white  elementary  teachers  reporting 


The  Teachers 


45^ 


are  able  to  meet  the  usual  minimum  requirements  for 
elementary  school  work,  that  is,  they  have  had  at  least 
two  years  of  normal  school  training  or  the  equivalent 
time  in  college.  Among  these  are  included  565  reporting 
two  years  or  more  in  normal  school,  827  reporting  two 
years   in   college,   488   reporting   three  years,    and   793 


ELtMLHTMLY 
SCHOOL 

HIGH   SCHOOL 

FULL 

HIGH   SCHOOL 

PALI 
NOlMftL  SCHOOL 

FULL 

KOilMftL   SCHOOL 

out  YEftL 
COLLtGL 

TWO    YtML 
COLLtGL 

THttL  YE.ML 
COLLLGL 

FULL 
COLLE.GL 

UMCLASSlflED 


J  8  0 


24ia 


.9  0  7 
8  2  7 


4  8  8' 


793 


39  7 


Figure   6 
Preparation  of  White  Elementary   School  Teachers 

reporting  four  years  or  more.  If,  however,  we  analyze  the 
preparation  of  the  565  teachers  reporting  two  or  more 
years  in  normal  school,  we  find  that  only  167  of  these 
have  had  really  standard  training,  that  is,  normal  school 
training  based  on  graduation  from  a  four  year  high  school. 
Again,  probably  not  more  than  512  of  the  827  reporting 


46  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

two  years  in  college  have  had  the  equivalent  in  time  of 
two  years  above  a  standard  high  school. 

But  the  length  of  the  training  of  these  elementary 
teachers  reporting  college  attendance  is  not  the  only 
question  involved;  more  important  is  the  character  of 
their  training.  Good  elementary  teacher  .training  in- 
volves concentration  on  the  subject  matter  and  methods 
of  teaching  the  common  school  studies — reading,  spelling, 
writing,  arithmetic,  geogra,phy,  history,  etc.  The  time 
of  college  students  is  consumed  mostly  by  English,  ancient 
and  modern  foreign  languages,  and  mathematics.  Even 
if  college  students  elect  professional  work  in  the  junior 
and  senior  years,  this  has  to  do  usually  with  teaching  in 
the  high  school  rather  than  in  the  elementary  school. 
College  trained  teachers  thus  enter  the  elementary  schools 
as  a  rule  without  adequate  professional  preparation  for 
the  work  they  undertake,  so  that  they  can  not  ordinarily 
be  reckoned  as  well  trained  elementary  teachers. 

But  let  us  put  aside  all  questions  as  to  the  ability  of 
the  ordinary  college  to  train  elementary  teachers,  and 
accept  as  meeting  the  usual  elementary  standards  the 
793  reporting  four  years  or  more  in  college,  the  488  re- 
porting three  years,  the  512  out  of  the  827  reporting  two 
years,  and  the  167  of  the  565  reporting  two  years  or  more 
in  normal  schools.  These  together  make  a  total  of  1,960, 
equal  to  22  per  cent  of  all  reporting,  that  might  be  reck- 
oned as  well  trained.  On  this  basis  it  would  appear 
that  approximately  four-fifths  of  all  white  elementary 
teachers  now  in  service  are  without  adequate  preparation. 
Of  these  four-fifths,  about  43  per  cent,  or  a  third  of  the 
entire  elementary  teaching  body,  are  woefully  unpre- 
pared, having  attended  only  an  elementary  school  or 
having  gone  only  a  short  way  in  high  school.  The  great 
majority  of  this  last  named  group  are  in  the  rural 
schools. 


The  Teachers  47 

Experience,  Tenure  and  Age  of  Teachers 

Our  teachers  are  likewise  inexperienced.  Of  the  white 
teachers  reporting  a  half  have  served  less  than  five  years, 
a  fourth  between  five  and  nine  years,  and  a  fourth  have 
been  in  schools  ten  years  or  more.  Rural  teachers  are 
less  experienced  than  city  teachers.  Of  the  rural  teachers 
reporting,  54  per  cent  have  taught  less  than  five  years,  and 
20  per  cent  were  in  their  first  year,  whereas  in  the  specially 
chartered  districts,  only  36  per  cent  have  served  less  than 
five  years,  and  only  eight  per  cent  were  teaching  for  the 
first  time.  Colored  teachers  are  somewhat  more  ex- 
perienced than  white  teachers,  and  yet  11  per  cent  of 
those  reporting  were  beginners. 

Our  teachers  are  also  extremely  mobile,  that  is,  they 
move  freely  from  school  to  school,  with  the  result  they 
are  seldom  anchored  at  one  place  long  enough  to  know 
either  pupils  or  parents,  or  to  become  identified  with 
the  interests  of  the  community.  For  example,  52  pci* 
cent  of  all  white  teachers  reporting  were  in  new  posi- 
tions, which  means,  with  only  18  per  cent  of  them  be- 
ginners, that  approximately  42  per  cent  of  all  old  teachers 
had  taken  new  positions  in  1918-1919.  Rural  schools 
as  usual  suffer  most.  Fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  rural 
teachers  reporting  were  in  new  fields,  so  that  with  only 
20  per  cent  of  them  beginners,  approximately  44  per  cent 
of  old  teachers  must  have  shifted,  as  compared  with 
approximately  35  per  cent  in  the  cities.  It  is,  therefore, 
not  surprising  that  only  10  per  cent  of  all  white  teachers 
have  been  in  their  present  positions  five  years  or  more. 
Colored  teachers  appear  to  move  a  little  less  frequently. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  have  few  immature  teachers. 
Out  of  the  888  high  school  teachers  reporting,  only  24 
were  under  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  all  but  54  of 
the  1,518  city  elementary  teachers  were  twenty-one  or 
over.  As  might  be  expected,  the  percentage  of  immature 
teachers  is  highest  in  the  rural  schools,  but  even  there 


48  Public  Education  in  Nokth  Carolina 

only  19  per  cent  of  those  reporting  were  under  twenty- 
one.  In  the  colored  schools  less  than  10  per  cent  might 
be  called  immature. 

Teachers'  Salaries 

There  are  three  obvious  reasons  why  approximately 
half  of  the  high  school  teachers  and  approximately  four- 
fifths  of  the  elementary  teachers  are  unprepared,  and 
why  the  teaching  body  as  a  whole  is  inexperienced  and 
unstable.  The  prime  reason  is  the  low  salaries  paid. 
Teachers'  salaries  are  low  everj'where,  but  those  in  our 
state  have  for  years  been  almost  the  very  lowest  in  the 
United  States.  Even  as  late  as  1917-1918,  the  average 
annual  salary  of  rural  white  teachers  was  oi;ly  $276,  and 
of  rural  colored  teachers  $140.  At  the  same  time  city 
white  teachers  received  annually  on  the  average  only 
$532,  and  city  colored  teachers  $276.  Even  at  these 
salaries,  teaching  to  some  was  undoubtedly  a  serious 
business,  but  for  the  great  majority  it  was  merely  a 
makeshift,  to  be  followed  until  something  better  turned 
up. 

The  legislature  of  1919  attempted  to  meet  these  de- 
plorable conditions.  The  salaries  of  teachers  holding 
county  and  city  certificates  (second  grade  certificates) 
were  raised  from  $35  to  $45,  and  the  salaries  of  those 
holding  state  certificates  were  increased  from  10  to  25 
per  cent.  Despite  these  increases,  the  salaries  of  most 
teachers  remained  pitiably  low,  particularly  in  the  rural 
districts.  For  example,  the  average  annual  salaries  of 
rural  elementary  teachers  for  1919-1920  were  as  follows: 
white,  $430;  colored,  $295. 

The  salaries  provided  by  the  legislature  of  1919  were 
neither  sufficient  to  prevent  the  further  depletion  of 
the  teaching  staff,  nor  to  induce  young  people  to  enter 
the  profession.  Far-reaching  measures  were  necessary 
if  the  schools  were  to  be  saved  from  the  impending  crisis. 


Pitt  County 


Polk  County 


NEW  TYPE  MEDIUM  SIZED  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


The  Teachers  49 

The  efforts  of  those  in  authority  to  meet  this  critical 
situation  cuhninated  in  the  legislation  of  August,  1920. 

This  legislation  is  a  long  step  forward.  First,  the 
salaries  guaranteed  are  closely  linked,  in  each  instance, 
with  prescribed  academic  and  professional  preparation. 
The  longer  and  more  speciahzed  the  training  required, 
the  larger  the  initial  salary  guaranteed.  For  example, 
holders  of  county  and  city  certificates  (second  grade  cer- 
tificates) are  guaranteed  only  S45  a  month,  whereas 
properly  trained  elementary-  and  high  sdiool  teachers 
are  guaranteed  an  initial  monthly  salary  of  -SOO  and  8100 
respect  iveh' 

Second,  all  teachers  holding  state  certificates  are  guar- 
anteed for  a  period  of  four  years  after  the  first,  an  an- 
nual increase  of  So  per  month.  These  guaranteed  an- 
nual increases,  small  as  they  are,  along  with  the  guaran- 
teed minimum  initial  monthly  salary,  vail  do  something 
to  hold  teachers  in  ser^-ice,  and  to  prevent  them  from 
shifting  from  school  to  school. 

The  Certification  of  Teachers 
The  prevailing  way  of  certificating  teachers  has  also 
contributed  to  the  present  unpreparedness  of  the  teaching 
body.  A  certification  system,  well  devised  and  executed, 
can  do  much,  by  holding  right  standards  before  teachers, 
to  stimulate  proper  preparation.  But  TNTth  salaries  low, 
vnth  little  distinction  in  pay  or  otherwise  between  the 
trained  and  the  untrained,  ^nth  teachers  scarce,  our  cer- 
tificating authorities  have  been  able  to  do  little  to  foster 
teacher  training,  while  the  conditions  under  which  certifi- 
cates were  issued  minimized  even  the  little  they  could  do. 
Prior  to  1917  there  were  237  gateways  to  teaching. 
Certificates  were  issued  by  100  county  superintendents, 
136  superintendents  of  specially  chartered  districts,  and 
the  old  state  board  of  examiners;  and,  of  course,  there 
were  as  many  standards  as  there  were  certificatmg  bodies. 


50  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

To  correct  this  chaotic  condition,  the  present  state 
board  of  examiners  and  institute  conductors  was  created 
in  1917.  The  bill  creating  this  board  was  a  compromise. 
The  county  and  city  superintendents  were  left  supreme 
in  the  field  of  second  and  third  grade  certificates,  thus 
keeping  alive  236  different  certificating  authorities.  The 
influence  of  these  local  authorities  is  great,  for  over  a  third 
of  the  entire  teaching  force  hold  certificates  issued  by 
them.  To  be  sure,  the  state  has  for  years  discriminated 
in  salary  against  holders  of  such  certificates;  neverthe- 
less, the  relative  number  vnW  doubtless  be  large  for  years 
to  come. 

Despite  the  large  proportion  of  teachers  thus  certifi- 
cated by  local  authorities,  there  is  not  now  a  single  line 
of  law  or  regulation  governing  the  issuance  of  such  cer- 
tificates; that  is,  laws  or  regulations  prescribing  the  sub- 
jects in  which  examinations  shall  be  held,  periods  of 
validity,  and  conditions  of  renewal.  Each  superintend- 
ent is  a  law  unto  himself.  The  result  is  that  certifi- 
cates of  these  grades  are  often  handed  out  by  superin- 
tendents -^-ithout  even  the  semblance  of  an  examination. 
When  certificates  can  be  had  for  the  asking,  obviously 
there  is  little  incentive  to  thorough  preparation.  Quite 
properly  the  holders  of  such  certificates  are  called  the 
"lost  third"  of  the  teaching  body,  and  they  will  doubt- 
less remain  "lost"  until  brought  under  the  super\asion 
of  a  central  board. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  law  of  1917  gave  the  state  board 
of  examiners  and  institute  conductors  control  of  all  cer- 
tificates above  second  and  third  grade.  However,  it 
was  understood  that  holders  of  certificates  from  the  old 
state  board  of  examiners  and  all  holders  of  first  grade  county 
certificates  should  receive  new  state  certificates  without 
examination.  This  "gentlemen's  agreement"  extended 
also  to  certificates  issued  by  the  superintendents  of  spe- 
cially chartered  districts.     Under  this  agreement  the  state 


The  Teachers  51 

board  has  issued  to  the  holders  of  all  such  certificates 
a  state  certificate  of  the  particular  kind  and  grade  rec- 
ommended by  the  respective  city  superintendents.  It 
was  only  just  that  holders  of  old  state  certificates  should 
receive  new  state  certificates  of  equal  tenure  and  validity, 
but  it  was  surely  unwise  to  tie  the  hands  of  the  state 
board  of  examiners,  as  was  done  in  the  case  of  holders 
of  first  grade  county  certificates  and  teachers  in  specially 
chartered  districts. 

The  new  state  board  of  examiners  was  thus  gravely 
handicapped  at  birth,  and  it  faced  an  impossible  situation 
besides.  A  thoroughgoing  certification  system  is  effec- 
tive only  when  salaries  are  attractive.  When  salaries 
are  deplorably  low,  the  standards  for  certificates  set  up 
by  the  state  board  of  examiners  must  of  necessity  be  cor- 
respondingly low;  hence,  efforts  that  can  be  made  under 
these  conditions  to  elevate  teacher  training  avail  little. 

The  board's  opportunity  to  do  a  piece  of  constructive 
work  came  with  the  special  session  of  the  general  assembly 
of  1920,  and  well  did  they  respond.  Basing  their  new 
certification  scheme  on  the  minimum  salaries  guaranteed 
by  the  new  salary  law,  they  laid  do^ATi  specific  academic 
and  professional  requirements  for  each  kind  and  grade 
of  certificate  needed  in  the  entire  school  system.  These 
requirements  are  defined  in  terms  of  work  completed 
in  school,  for  which  credit  is  awarded  toward  graduation 
from  a  course  regularly  offered  bj'  the  given  institution. 
Once  a  teacher  obtains  a  standard  certificate,  she  is 
forever  reheved  from  all  further  examinations  or  pre- 
paratory work.  The  former  plan  of  allowing  home  and 
reading  circle  work  to  count  on  renewals  and  on  raising 
certificates  to  a  higher  grade  was  abandoned.  Non- 
standard certificates  may  now  be  renewed  or  raised  to 
a  higher  grade  only  by  actual  school  attendance  either 
in  regular  term  or  during  the  sununer. 

The  new  certification  scheme  is  thus  founded  on    well 

92468 — 5 


52  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

accepted  principles,  and  is  destined  to  exert  a  profound 
influence  for  good.  In  the  first  place,  it  sets  before  the 
people  the  academic  and  professional  preparation  needed 
by  each  kind  of  well  trained  teacher.  To  teachers  them- 
selves it  makes  clear  the  specific  preparation  required 
to  secure  a  given  certificate.  Prospective  teachers, 
expecting  to  enter  the  elementary  schools,  will  no  longer 
study  methods  of  teaching  high  school  subjects,  but  will 
focus  their  attention  on  the  academic  and  professional 
subjects  prescribed  for  the  particular  elementary  certifi- 
cate which  they  desire.  Similarly  with  prospective  high 
school  teachers.  Finally,  the  scheme  incidentally  points 
the  way  for  both  public  and  private  teacher  training  in- 
stitutions. So  little  was  formerly  required  of  teachers 
that  the  institutions  of  the  state  generally  undertook  to 
train  all  kinds  of  teachers,  with  the  result  that  teachers 
were  rarely  well  prepared  for  any  particular  field.  The 
new  certification  scheme  does  not  lay  down  specific  teacher 
training  courses,  but  it  does  prescribe  the  general  re- 
quirements of  such  courses.  The  effect  of  this  will 
eventually  be  that  each  institution  will  concentrate  upon 
the  particular  kind  of  teacher  training  it  is  best  equip- 
ped to  do. 

To  carry  this  certification  scheme  to  its  logical  con- 
clusion, the  salaries  of  teachers  for  each  grade  of  certifi- 
cate will,  as  we  shall  point  out  later,  need  to  be  made 
still  more  attractive  and  to  be  placed  on  an  annual  basis. 
Also,  the  certification  of  all  teachers,  even  the  lowest 
grade  of  city  and  county  teachers,  should  be  put  in  the 
hands  of  the  state  board  of  examiners.  Thus  to  do  away 
with  the  other  236  certificating  authorities  is  the  surest 
and  quickest  way  to  eliminate  favoritism  and  chaos,  to 
reach  the  present  "lost  third,"  and  to  elevate  the  entire 
teaching  force. 

The  mechanism  provided  for  the  operation  of  the  new 
certification  system  is  seriously  defective.     As  now  or- 


OLD  TYPE  LARGE  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


The  Teachers  53 

ganized,  the  state  board  of  examiners  and  institute 
conductors  consists  of  six  members,  besides  the  state  su- 
perintendent, and  the  supervisor  of  Xegro  and  Indian 
normal  schools,  ex  officio  secretary.  The  S25,000  an- 
nually appropriated  provides  salaries  for  the  six  regular 
members;  but  little  remains  for  incidental  expenses  and 
clerical  assistance.  The  actual  annual  expense  of 
the  board  approximates  S30,000.  A  far  more  effective 
organization  would  be  provided  if  a  division  of  certifica- 
tion were  created  within  the  state  department  of  educa- 
tion. At  the  head  of  this  division  there  should  be  a 
director,  who  should  be  provided  with  an  ample  clerical 
force,  and  temporary  help  in  the  preparation  and  read- 
ing of  examination  questions.  Such  an  organization 
would  not  only  be  more  efficient  than  the  present 
organization,  but  less  expensive;  at  the  same  time  it 
would  free  the  remaining  members  of  the  present  board 
for  other  important  work,  for  example,  the  supervision 
of  teacher  training  departments  in  high  schools  and 
county  summer  training  schools,  which  are  so  rapidly 
displacing  the  old  count}-  institutes. 

Teacher  Training  Facilities 

Nothing  can  possibly  take  the  place  of  liberal  salaries 
and  a  sound  certification  system  in  fostering  proper  teacher 
preparation.  Yet  strong  teacher  training  institutions, 
readily  accessible,  will  increase  materiallj'  the  number 
of  well  trained  .teachers. 

Under  present  conditions,  there  are  needed  annually 
approximately  150  new  high  school  teachers,  and  approx- 
imately 2,000  new  white  and  350  new  colored  elementary 
teachers,  merely  to  take  the  place  of  those  who  yearly 
leave  the  system.  These  numbers  take  no  account  of 
the  new  county  and  city  superintendents  and  the  new 
supervisors  annually  required,  and  they  would  be  greatly 
augmented  if  any  consistent  effort  were  made  to  reduce 


54  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

the  present  proportion  of  ill  prepared  teachers.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  teaching 
body  tends  to  become  more  stable,  as  it  is  more  highly 
trained. 

If  both  state  and  private  institutions  are  considered, 
the  present  high  school  teacher  training  facilities  answer 
fairly  well  and  could  be  made  adequate  for  immediate 
needs.  The  State  University  should  furnish  at  least  25 
high  school  teachers  annually,  and  the  North  Carolina 
College  for  Women,  50.  Seven  private  "A"  colleges 
having  educational  departments  graduated  from  these 
departments  in  June,  1919,  71  students  who  expected 
to  teach.  Altogether  there  are  now  available  approxi- 
mately 150  high  school  teachers  annually,  and  doubtless 
this  number  will  increase  under  the  spur  of  higher  salaries. 
Probably  few  of  these  graduates  could  at  the  moment 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  highest  high  school  certifi- 
cate in  the  new  certification  scheme.  It  would,  how- 
ever, be  a  short  step  for  most  of  these  institutions  so  to 
strengthen  their  professional  high  school  courses  that 
their  graduates  could  qualify  for  the  certificate  in  question. 
Moreover,  the  "B"  colleges,  for  reasons  to  appear  later, 
will  doubtless  train  more  high  school  teachers  in  the  future 
than  in  the  past.  This  will  further  increase  the  supply, 
even  though  these  "B"  college  graduates  may  not  be 
able  to  secure  the  highest  grade  of  high  school  cer- 
tificate. The  prospect  for  an  abundant  supply  of  well 
trained  and  fairly  well  trained  high  school  teachers  is, 
therefore,  promising. 

The  elementary  teacher  training  problem  is  not  so 
easily  solved.  In  the  past  certain  of  the  private  colleges, 
particularly  those  ofj  "B"  grade,  trained  elementary 
teachers.  Students  doing  chiefly  regular  college  work  can 
not  now  meet  the  requirements  for  high  grade  elementary 
certificates  as  laid  down  in  the  new  certification  scheme; 
such  work  counts  to  greater  advantage  toward  a  high 


The  Teachers  55 

school  certificate.  In  a  word,  under  the  new  certification 
scheme,  college  students  can  obtain  higher  certificates  for 
teaching  in  high  schools  than  in  elementary  schools,  and 
for  this  reason  the}^  ■wall  receive  higher  salaries  as  high 
school  teachers  than  as  elementary  school  teachers.  The 
colleges  will  therefore  tend  to  abandon  elementary  teacher 
training  in  favor  of  the  preparation  of  high  school 
teachers.  Hence,  private  colleges  are  no  longer  to  be 
counted  among  the  elementary  teacher  training  assets  of 
the  state.  There  is,  however,  one  private  institution 
which  may  be  so  counted — the  Xormal  and  Collegiate 
Institute  at  Asheville,  which  graduates  about  50  ele- 
mentary teachers  a  year  and  has  trained  165  elementary 
teachers  now  in  the  field. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  state  supports  four  institutions 
devoted  wholh^  or  in  part  to  the  training  of  elementary 
teachers — the  North  Carolina  College  for  Women,  the 
East  Carolina  Teachers  Training  School,  the  Appalach- 
ian Training  School,  and  the  Cullowhee  Xormal  and 
Industrial  School.  To  what  extent  are  these  institutions 
able  to  meet  the  elementary  teacher  training  needs  of 
the  state?  As  pointed  out  above,  the  elementary  schools 
now  require  approximatelj'  2,000  new  teachers  annually 
merely  to  fill  the  places  of  those  who  drop  out.  All  the 
teachers  now  in  service,  graduate  and  non-gi-aduate,  who 
received  their  major  training  in  these  state  supported 
schools  aggregate  only  1,262.  i  These  1,262  teachers, 
the  combined  product  of  all  these  institutions  for 
years,  thus  barely  equal  three-fifths  of  the  new  teachers 
required  in  a  single  year.  Nothing  could  depict  more 
clearly  the  utter  inadequacy  of  the  present  provisions 
for  the  training  of  elementary  teachers,  unless  it  be  the 


'Of  these  755  received  their  major  training  at  the  North  Carolina  College  for 
Women;  389,  at  the  East  Carolina  Teachers  Training  School;  43,  at  the  Appalachian 
Training  School;  and  75,  at  the  Cullowhee  Normal  and  Industrial  School. 


56         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

further  fact  that  all  these  institutions  together  graduate 
less  than  200  elementary  teachers  a  year,  scarcely  a  tenth 
of  the  number  now  needed. 

Within  the  last  year  several  high  school  teacher  train- 
ing departments  have  been  established — twelve  in  all. 
Such  departments  usually  take  tenth  and  eleventh  grade 
high  school  pupils  and  give  them  simple,  practical  in- 
struction in  teaching  as  a  part  of  their  high  school  course. 
County  summer  training  schools  have  also  been  generally 
organized,  offering  a  six  or  eight  weeks'  course  to  pros- 
pective teachers.  These  are  valuable  means  of  giving 
beginners  a  little  professional  training,  but  both  are 
probably  temporary  and  are  not  to  be  reckoned  as  per- 
manent factors  in  elementary  teacher  training. 

Private  schools  play  even  a  larger  role  in  the  training 
of  colored  teachers  than  in  the  training  of  white  teachers. 
Thirteen  of  the  thirty  colored  colleges  and  academies 
of  the  state  maintain  normal  departments.  Much  of 
the  work  of  these  private  schools  is  weak,  but  they  are 
doing  the  best  they  can  with  their  limited  resources,  and 
the  state  would  be  in  a  sorry  pHght  without  them.  For, 
of  the  2,357  colored  teachers  reporting  to  us,  over  half 
received  in  private  schools  such  training  as  they  have 
enjoyed. 

On  its  part,  the  state  supports  three  colored  training 
schools — one  at  Elizabeth  City,  one  at  Fayetteville, 
and  one  at  Winston-Salem.  These  schools  are  all  small, 
and,  together,  have  in  the  field  295  former  students,  135 
of  whom  are  graduates.  They  turn  out  annually  about 
35  graduates,  which  is  approximately  one-tenth  of  the 
new  colored  teachers  now  required.  ^  There  are  also  in 
the  state  18  publicly  supported  county  training  schools 


iThe  state  also  mamtaina  the  Cherokee  Normal  School  for  Indians  at  Pembroke. 
While  thia  school  gives  Indian  teachers  about  all  the  school  training  they  ever 
receive,  the  school  itself  is  merely  a  graded  school,  for  rarely  do  pupils  advance 
beyond  the  seventh  grade. 


The  Teachers  57 

for  colored  teachers.  These  schools  aim  to  provide  high 
school  opportunities  for  colored  boys  and  girls  and  training 
for  rural  school  teachers.  Although  of  very  great  promise, 
they  are  of  too  recent  origin  to  have  become  a  factor  in 
training  colored  teachers. 

To  summarize,  our  teachers  are,  as  a  body,  ill  prepared, 
inexperienced,  and  unstable.  The  reasons  for  this  un- 
satisfactory condition  are  low  salaries,  a  poor  certification 
system,  and  inadequate  teacher  training  institutions. 
The  new  salary  law  and  new  certification  scheme  are 
long  steps  in  the  right  direction,  but  before  conditions 
will  materially  improve,  salaries  for  those  having  proper 
preparation  will  need  to  be  still  further  increased,  ex- 
isting teacher  training  institutions  enlarged  and  strength- 
ened in  ways  to  be  pointed  out  later,  and  new  ones  es- 
tablished, particularly  for  the  training  of  rural  elementary 
teachers. 


V.     INSTRUCTION 

GOOD  teaching  gives  children  the  kind  of  knowledge 
and  the  kind  of  power  that  are  constantly  needed 
in  daily  Ufe.  It  trains  them  to  read,  to  spell,  to 
figure,  to  observe,  and  to  think.  Unfortunately,  most 
teaching  is  not  of  this  quality.  Most  teaching  leans  too 
hea^^l3'  on  memory  or  rote  work,  and  so  tends  to  stifle 
rather  than  to  develop  the  child's  intelligence. 

For  example,  in  our  smaller  schools,  with  rare  excep- 
tions, teaching  consists  in  assigning  lessons  in  textbooks, 
helping  children  to  pronounce  difficult  words  and  solve 
difl&cult  problems,  and  hearing  them  repeat  in  a  mechan- 
ical way  what  thej'  can  remember  of  the  printed  page. 
Rarely  are  questions  asked  that  arouse  curiosity  or  pro- 
voke thought,  that  illuminate  the  text  b}^  an  appeal  to 
experience,  or  that  point  out  the  value  of  what  is  learned 
because  of  its  usefulness  in  life.  The  teaching  in  these 
smaller  schools  is  thus  on  the  whole  deadening  in  its 
effect. 

In  our  larger  schools — rural  and  city — there  is  here 
and  there  some  excellent  teaching,  but,  even  in  these 
larger  schools,  the  majority  of  the  teachers  do  little  more 
than  assign  lessons  and  hear  children  recite.  Many  of 
these  teachers  do  not  lack  the  capacity  to  do  better  work, 
but  being  neither  stimulated  nor  guided  by  trained  super- 
visors they  have  fallen  into  routine  and  formal  methods 
of  instruction. 

With  the  teaching  in  our  schools  on  the  whole  of  poor 
quality,  it  is  inevitable  that  the  results  achieved  should 
be  unsatisfactory.  In  fact,  many  children  are  now 
learning  so  little  in  school,  particularly  in  the  small  rural 

[58] 


Instruction  59 

schools,  that  a  few  years  hence  they  will  have  forgotten 
most  of  what  they  memorized  and  will  quite  properly 
be  classed  as  illiterates. 

These  somewhat  sweeping  and  unfavorable  opinions 
are  the  result  of  "wdde  observation  in  the  classrooms  of 
North  Carolina  and  other  states.  Fortunately,  however, 
we  need  not  ask  the  public  simply  to  take  our  word  as  to 
the  quality  of  the  teaching  in  our  schools.  Written  and 
other  tests  have  been  devised,  by  means  of  which  the 
efficiency  of  teaching  can  be  measured,  and  the  efficiency 
of  teaching  in  different  places  and  under  different  condi- 
tions can  be  compared.  In  February  and  March,  1920, 
more  than  10,000  children  in  different  counties  and  cities 
of  North  Carolina  were  thus  tested  or  measured.  It  is 
believed  that  the  results  from  these  tests  furnish  a  fair 
sample  of  the  kind  of  education  now  given  by  the  public 
schools  of  the  state. 

Four  counties  were  originally  selected  in  which  to  give 
the  tests — McDowell,  Rowan,  Wake,  and  Pitt.  The 
school  officials  consulted  agreed  that  each  of  these  counties 
was  somewhat  better  than  the  average  county  of  its  re- 
spective section — Mountain,  Piedmont,  Central,  and 
Tidewater — and  that  the  results  of  the  tests  in  these 
counties  would  be  somewhat  better  than  the  average  for 
the  state.  To  the  four  counties  originally  chosen  Halifax 
was  added  later,  as  were  also  the  cities  of  Asheville, 
Greensboro,  and  Wilmington. 

In  order  that  our  data  might  be  complete  so  far  as  they 
went,  effort  was  made  to  test  the  children  in  every  ele- 
mentary school  and  every  high  school  in  the  above  named 
originally  selected  counties.  Few  even  of  the  one  room 
schools  were  omitted.  ^     In  the  elementary  schools  the 


^In  the  giving  of  the  tests,  we  enjoyed  theco-operationof  the  state  department  of 
education,  of  the  faculties  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  North  Carolina 
College  for  Women,  and  East  Carolina  Teachers  Training  School,  and  of  county 
and  city  superintendents,  supervisors,  and  others. 


60         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

tests  were  given  chiefly  in  the  fifth  and  seventh  grades. 
The  fifth  grade  was  selected  because  large  numbers  of 
children  drop  out  of  school  before  or  by  the  time  they  have 
completed  this  grade,  and  the  achievements  of  fifth  grade 
children,  therefore,  are  an  index  to  the  preparation  for 
life  of  children  thus  dropping  out  of  school.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  seventh  grade  represents  the  final  year  in  the 
grades,  and  the  achievements  of  seventh  grade  children 
accordingly  represent  the  maximum  product  of  the  North 
Carolina  elementary  schools.  In  addition  to  the  tests 
given  in  the  fifth  and  seventh  grades,  a  special  reading 
test  was  given  to  primary  children  in  a  few  city  and  county 
schools,  and  high  school  pupils  were  tested  in  reading, 
algebra,  and  Latin. 

Reading 

Reading  is  the  most  important  skill  that  the  elementary 
schools  seek  to  impart.  Therefore,  in  testing  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  schools,  primary  attention  was  given  to 
reading. 

Reading  in  the  Primary  Grades 

To  teach  children  to  read  is  not  only  the  main  task  of 
the  first  and  second  grades  of  the  elementary  school,  but 
it  makes  large  demands  upon  both  teacher  and  pupils 
in  grades  3  and  4.  A  public  school  system  which  achieves 
a  creditable  record  in  this  crucial  phase  of  its  work  is 
likely  to  do  well  in  other  respects  also.  To  fail  at  this 
critical  point  means  inefficiency  in  all  more  advanced 
instruction. 

As  a  measure  of  how  well  our  schools  are  teaching 
children  to  read,  a  simple  reading  test^  was  given  in 
Raleigh  to  approximately  1,000  school  children  and  to 
about  800  rural  school  children  in  one,  two,  three,  and 
four   teacher   schools.     First,   second,    and   third   grade 


The  Achievement  Test  in  Reading,  Sigma  I.    By  Haggerty  and   Noonan.    (The 
World  Book  Company,  Yonkers,  New  York). 


OLD  TYPE  LARGE  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Instruction  61 

children  were  tested.  The  results  of  these  tests  at  Raleigh 
show  good  work  in  the  third  grade.  The  second  grade, 
however,  falls  considerably  short  of  the  achievements  of 
good  schools  in  other  states,  and  in  the  first  grade  the 
results  are  decidedly  below  what  they  should  be. 

The  poorest  work  was  found  in  one  teacher  rural  schools, 
where  third  gfade  children  did  little  more  than  one-half 
as  well  as  good  second  grade  children  should  do,  and 
where  fourth  grade  children  read  little  better  than  good 
second  grade  children.  In  the  two  and  three  teacher 
schools  the  results  were  slightly  better.  But  satisfactory 
results  are  approached  only  in  the  four  teacher  schools, 
where  third  grade  children  approximate  the  normal 
achievement  of  children  of  this  grade.  Rural  children, 
especially  in  one,  two,  and  three  teacher  schools,  are  thus 
far  below  where  they  should  be  in  reading  ability;  the 
handicap  of  their  poor  instruction  will  be  lifelong,  and 
it  will  be  severe. 

Reading  in  the  Fu^'th  and  Seventh  Grades 

The  ability  to  read  and  understand  simple  prose  of 
the  type  found  in  school  readers  and  in  the  textbooks 
on  informational  studies,  such  as  history  and  geography, 
becomes  increasingly  important  in  the  intermediate  and 
grammar  grades.  Accordingly,  a  reading  test^  was  given 
to  more  than  5,000  children  in  grades  5  and  7.  The 
following  is  an  illustrative  paragraph  from  the  test, 
representing  seventh  grade  difficulties,  and  the  questions 
the  pupils  were  expected  to  answer  after  having  read 
the  paragraph : 

Hay-fever  is  a  very  painful  though  not  a  dangerous  dis- 
ease. It  is  like  a  very  severe  cold  in  the  head,  except 
that  it  lasts  much  longer.  The  nose  runs;  the  eyes  are 
sore;  the  person  sneezes;  he  feels  unable  to  think  or  work. 


iThorndike  Reading  Scale,  Alpha  II. 


62  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

Sometimes  he  has  great  difficulty  in  breathing.  Hay- 
fever  is  not  caused  by  hay,  but  by  the  pollen  from  certain 
weeds  and  flowers.  Only  a  small  number  of  people  get 
this  disease,  perhaps  one  person  in  fifty.  Most  of  those 
who  get  it  can  avoid  it  by  going  to  live  in  certain  places 
during  the  summer  and  fall.  Almost  everyone  can  find 
some  place  where  he  does  not  suffer  from  hay-fever. 
What  is  the  cause  of  hay-fever?  % 

How  large  a  percentage  of  people  get  hay-fever? 
During  what  seasons  of  the  year  would  a  person  have 
the  disease  described  in  the  paragraph? 

In  order  to  meet  this  test,  a  child  must  be  able  to  read 
and  to  understand  what  he  has  read — which,  by  the  way, 
is  just  what  he  must  be  able  to  do  when  he  studies  his 
lessons  in  history,  geography,  or  science.  The  results 
from  the  test  show  that  the  best  work  in  reading  is  done 
in  the  larger  cities — Asheville,  Raleigh,  Sahsbury,  and 
Wilmington — and  the  next  best  in  the  middle  sized  cities. 
But  this  so-caUed  "best"  work  is  itself  poor,  for  the  scores 
in  both  groups  of  cities  and  in  practically  every  individual 
city  fall  considerably  below  the  normal  score  for  seventh 
grade  pupils  in  an  eight  grade  system,  i  In  fact,  our 
seventh  grade  city  school  children  read  no  better  than 
good  sixth  grade  children  elsewhere,  and  appear  to  be 
two  years  behind  the  standard  reading  achievements 
of  children  who  complete  an  eight  year  program.  The 
record  for  grade  5  in  city  schools  is  somewhat  better, 
being  only  slightly  lower  than  the  standard  score  for  this 
grade. 

But  the  worst  conditions  are  found  in  the  rural  schools. 
In  no  case  did  any  group  of  seventh  grade  rural  children 
in  any  of  the  four  selected  counties  equal  the  standard 
for  grade  6.  The  seventh  grade  scores  for  all  the  counties 
approximate  the  standard  score  for  grade  5,  and  the 
fifth  grade  scores  are  about  equal  to  what  third  grades 


'In  interpreting  grade  scores,  it  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  North  Carolina    has 
a  seven  grade  system. 


Instruction 


63 


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64  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

should  make.  In  general,  therefore,  the  reading  capacity 
of  fifth  and  seventh  grade  rural  pupils  is  fully  two  years 
below  the  achievement  of  good  fifth  and  seventh  grade 
city  schools  in  general,  and  one  year  or  more  behind  the 
achievement  of  the  children  of  corresponding  grades  in 
the  better  city  schools  of  North  Carolina. 

The  case,  however,  appears  even  more  critical  when 
the  ages  of  the  rural  children  are  considered.  The  me- 
dian age,  or  average  age,  of  the  seventh  grade  children  in 
the  larger  cities  of  North  Carolina  is  about  thirteen  and 
a  half  years.  Pupils  in  the  corresponding  grade  in  one, 
two,  and  three  teacher  rural  schools  are  almost  two  years 
older.  To  put  it  differently,  the  217  seventh  grade  chil- 
dren examined  in  one  teacher  schools  show  a  median  or 
average  age  of  about  fifteen  years  and  three  months, 
which  is  approximately  two  years  more  than  the  median 
or  average  age  of  the  630  seventh  grade  children  of  the 
larger  cities,  and,  besides,  these  same  rural  children  are 
almost  a  year  behind  in  reading.  Combining  these  facts, 
it  would  appear  that  these  217  seventh  grade  children 
in  the  one  room  rural  schools  are  at  least  three  years 
short  in  their  reading  achievements  of  the  children  in 
our  city  schools.  Where  such  conditions  prevail,  there 
can  be  little  effective  instruction  in  informational  sub- 
jects, such  as  history  and  geography.  The  validity  of 
this  inference  appears  in  the  results  for  the  examination 
in  United  States  history  to  be  described  later. 

In  light  of  the  fact  that  50  per  cent  of  the  rural  school 
children  of  our  state  never  go  beyond  the  sixth  grade, 
the  overwhelming  significance  of  the  reading  situation 
becomes  clear.  Men  may  differ  about  the  importance 
of  teaching  young  people  the  subjects  of  algebra  and  Latin, 
but  there  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion  among  intelli- 
gent men  as  to  the  importance  of  teaching  the  children 
of  our  democracy  to  read  the  English  language. 


Instruction  65 

High  School  Reading 

While  there  is  general  acceptance  of  the  importance 
of  reading  in  the  elementary  grades,  little  attention  is 
paid  anywhere  to  continuing  in  the  high  school  in- 
struction of  children  in  the  mastery  of  the  printed  page. 
Yet  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  such  mastery,  or  its 
absence,  influences  all  phases  of  high  school  instruction. 
To  test  the  achievement  of  our  high  schools  at  this 
critical  point,  a  silent  reading  test  was  given  near  the 
close  of  the  school  year  to  more  than  1,300  eighth  grade 
pupils  (first  year  high  school).  The  same  test  was  also 
given  to  more  than  2,000  students  in  the  upper  high 
school  grades  and  in  the  first  year  of  a  few  of  the  standard 
colleges  of  the  state.  ^ 

When  the  results  for  our  first  year  high  school  students 
are  figured  on  the  basis  of  the  entire  test,  it  is  evident 
that  they  finish  accurately  less  than  50  per  cent  of  the 
test.  It  might  appear  that  this  low  per  cent  of  accuracy 
was  due  to  the  great  length  of  the  test,  as  students  gen- 
erally were  unable  to  complete  the  entire  test  in  the  forty- 
five  minutes  allotted.  However,  when  the  results  for 
accuracy  are  figured  wholly  on  the  basis  of  the  questions 
which  the  pupils  attempted,  the  per  cent  of  accuracy  for 
these  first  year  high  school  pupils  is  but  little  higher. 
When  compared  with  the  results  from  corresponding 
grades  in  schools  outside  the  state,  the  North  Carolina 
scores  are  always  lower.  The  larger  North  Carolina 
cities  scored  48.3  per  cent  of  correct  responses;  St.  Paul 
scored  55.4,  Kansas  City,  :Missouri,  59.4,  and  Boulder, 
Colorado,  64. 

The  percentage  scores  for  students  in  the  second,  third, 
and  fourth  high  school  years  increase,  partly,  no  doubt, 
because  the  poorer  readers  drop  out  of  school  or  lag  behind. 


'These  tests,  as  arranged  for  the  North  Carolina  survey,  were  new,  and  in  order  to 
procure  comparable  data,  we  had  them  given  in  certain  other  cities,  notably  Kansas 
City,  Missouri,  Boulder,  Colorado,  and  St.  Paul,  Minnesota. 


66 


Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 


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Instruction  "  67. 

and  partly  because  high  school  education  improves  read- 
ing capacity.  What  is  true  of  the  scores  for  the  larger 
cities  in  these  upper  high  school  grades  is  correspond- 
ingly true  for  upper  grades  in  the  rural  high  schools. 
Even  so,  the  119  high  school  seniors  in  the  rural  high 
schools  of  McDowell,  Pitt,  Rowan,  and  Wake  counties 
score  less  than  do  the  freshmen  in  any  high  school  reported 
from  outside  the  state.  What  high  school  graduation 
from  such  schools  means  in  terms  of  the  mastery  of 
knowledge  it  is  difficult  to  understand. 

Spelling 

To  find  out  how  well  North  Carolina  children  spell, 
two  lists  of  20  words  each  were  given  to  the  fifth  and 
seventh  grades,  respectively,  in  the  school  examined. 
The  words  for  the  fifth  grade  were  as  follows  :i/orenoon, 
neighbor,  salary,  visitor,  machine,  success,  honor,  promise, 
busy,  different,  attention,  education,  director,  together, 
service,  general,  lawyer^  soldier,  tobacco,  treason.  Those 
for  the  seventh  grade  were:^  immediate,  convenient, 
receipt,  preliminary,  disappoint,  annual,  committee,  archi- 
tecture, artificial,  beneficial,  colonel,  contagious,  development, 
familiar,  financier,  intelligent,  opportunity,  peculiar,  per- 
severe, treachery. 

Fifth  grade  children  in  the  larger  and  medium  sized 
cities  fell  but  little  short  of  the  grade  standard  (66  per 
cent).  None  of  the  rural  schools,  however,  even  approx- 
imates satisfactory  results.  The  fifth  grade  pupils  in 
one  teacher  schools  spell,  on  the  average,  only  8  of  the'20 
words  correctly,  whereas  the  standard  calls  for  13.  The 
two  and  three  teacher  schools  did  somewhat  better,  but 
even  the  four  teacher  schools  fell  15  per  cent  below  the 
standard. 

'These  words  were  selected  from  Column  R  of  the  Buckingham  Extension  of  the 
Ayres  Spelling  Scale. 

2  These  words  were  selected  from  Column  X  of  the  Buckingham  Extension  of  the 
Ayres  Spelling  Scale. 

92468 — 6 


68 


Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 


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Instruction  69 

The  results  for  the  seventh  grade  indicate  that  the 
words  chosen  for  the  test  were  too  difficult.  Neverthe- 
less, on  the  basis  of  the  results  derived  from  tests  given 
elsewhere  throughout  the  country,  it  was  reasonable  to 
expect  that  our  city  children  would  spell  at  least  half  of 
the  20  words  correctly.  No  North  Carolina  school  group 
equaled  this  expectation.  In  general,  the  city  schools 
spell  correctly  less  than  8  words  and  the  rural  schools 
less  than  6  in  20.  While  the  city  schools  achieve  the 
best  results  even  their  achievement  falls  so  far  short  as 
to  prove  the  poor  quality  of  the  spelling  instruction. 

Arithmetic 

Hardly  less  important  than  the  ability  to  read  is  the 
ability  to  handle  the  fundamental  operations  of  arith- 
metic. To  measure  the  efficiency  with  which  our  schools 
teach  arithmetic,  fifth  and  seventh  grade  children  were 
tested  in  addition  and  in  multiplication.  ^  The  test  con- 
sisted of  a  series  of  problems  in  addition  and  multipli- 
cation, beginning  with  very  simple  problems  and  advancing 
to  more  difficult  ones.  Nineteen  problems  were  given 
in  addition,  and  20  in  multiplication.  The  measure  of 
a  pupil's  ability  is  the  number  of  problems  solved  cor- 


iWoody  Scales,  Series  B  (Bureau  of  Publications,  Teachers  College,   Columbia 
UruvcTBity,  New  York.) 


70  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

rectly  in  ten  minutes.     The  following  are  representative 
of  those  in  addition: 


2 

23 

$8.00 

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3 

25 

5.75 

.28 

16 

2.33 

4.16 

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1.01 

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1.10 

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.56 

The  following  are  representative  of  those  in  multiplication 

3x7=  50  8754  16  2^x31^= 

3  8  2% 


The  normal  addition  score  in  November  for  seventh 
grade  children  in  northern  and  western  cities  having 
eight  year  systems  is  18  problems.  The  seventh  grade 
children  in  larger  and  smaller  cities  of  North  Carolina 
tested  in  February  and  March  made  a  score  of  15  prob- 
lems, which  means  that  they  are  about  a  year  and  a  half 
below  where  such  children  should  be;  indeed,  in  no  instance 
did  the  seventh  grade  children  of  any  city  reach  the  stand- 
ard for  sixth  grade  children  of  good  schools.  As  in  reading, 
the  best  work  of  rural  children  was  in  the  four  teacher 


Instruction 


71 


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Small   City 

72  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

schools,  where  seventh  grade  children  made  a  score  of  14 
problems,  only  one  problem  below  the  score  of  the  larger 
and  smaller  cities.  The  poorest  work  was  in  the  one 
teacher  schools,  where  the  score  was  12  problems,  which 
shows  that  seventh  grade  children  in  these  schools  have 
little  more  than  fourth  grade  ability  in  addition,  when 
measured  by  the  achievement  of  children  in  good  schools. 

Similarly,  in  multiplication  the  seventh  grade  achieve- 
ment of  children  in  the  larger  and  smaller  city  schools  is 
slightly  less  than  the  normal  achievement  of  the  sixth 
grade  in  good  schools.  In  the  one,  two,  and  three  teach- 
er schools,  the  seventh  grade  made  scores  only  a  little 
better  than  the  standard  score  for  grade  5. 

When,  in  connection  with  these  scores  in  addition  and 
multiplication,  one  considers  that  in  every  grade  the  rural 
school  children  are  one,  two,  sometimes  three  years  older 
than  they  ought  to  be,  the  full  meaning  of  the  poor  re- 
sults becomes  apparent.  Here  and  there  a  child  of  un- 
usual ability  may  achieve  for  himself  what  the  schools 
fail  to  give  him,  but  the  great  mass  of  children  who 
leave  these  schools  will  go  through  life  weighed  down  by 
their  poor  schooling. 

History 

Outstanding  dates  like  1492,  1776,  and  1860,  the  names 
of  men  like  Columbus,  Washington,  Jefferson,  Lee,  Grant, 
and  Lincoln,  and  inventions  like  the  cotton  gin,  telegraph, 
and  locomotive  represent  to  educated  persons  the  course 
of  events  leading  up  to  our  present  American  life.  Few 
will  deny  that  the  merits  of  an  educational  system  must 
in  part  be  judged  by  the  amount  of  such  historical  knowl- 
edge it  imparts.  Accordingly,  about  2,000  seventh  grade 
pupils  were  tested  in  United  States  history.  Two  types 
of  questions  were  used — informational  questions,  and 
questions  that  required  the  child  to  employ  his  powers 
of  thought. 


Jamestown — Guilford    County 


Bladenboro — Bladen  CouNxr 


NEW  TYPE  LARGE  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Instruction  73 

Although  the  state  course  of  study  calls  for  the  sys- 
tematic teaching  of  American  history  as  early  as  the  sixth 
grade,  it  does  not  appear  that  our  children  have  any  gen- 
eral mastery  of  the  subject  comparable  with  their  grades. 
For  seventh  grade  children  in  Asheville,  Raleigh,  Salis- 
bury, and  Wilmington  fall  very  much  below  children  in 
good  schools  elsewhere  even  on  the  informational 
questions.!  The  highest  record  on  such  questions  was 
made  by  Raleigh,  yet  even  there  the  score  made  by  the 
seventh  grade  children  is  below  the  standard  for  the  sixth 
grade. 

The  results  in  rural  schools  were  still  more  unsatis- 
factory, as  seventh  grade  rural  children  did  only  about 
half  as  well  as  sixth  grade  children  are  expected  to  do. 
Think  of  sixteen  year  old  boys  who  believe  that  Thomas 
Jefferson  was  the  president  of  the  Southern  Confederacy, 
that  Andrew  Jackson  invented  the  telegraph,  and  that 
the  chief  result  of  the  Revolutionary  War  was  the  freeing 
of  slaves ! 

The  various  types  of  schools  did  even  less  well  on  the 
thought  questions.  In  no  single  school,  rural  or  city, 
does  the  achievement  of  the  children  on  these  thought 
questions  exceed  the  standard  for  the  sixth  grade,  and 
the  smaller  the  school  the  less  satisfactory  the  results. 

Algebra 

As  stated  before,  tests  were  also  given  in  high  schools. 
The  results  achieved  in  high  school  reading  were  re- 
ported in  connection  with  the  reading  in  the  elementary 
schools.  It  remains  to  describe  the  results  in  algebra 
and  Latin.  Most  of  our  high  school  students  begin  the 
study  of  algebra  in  their  first  year,  and  second  year  pupils 
are  supposed  to  devote  one-fourth  of  their  entire  school 
time  to  this  subject.    To  measure  the  result  of  this  very 


'Questions  were  selected    from  the  Van  Wagcnen    Series  of  Standard  Sca)es  in. 
American  Hiatory. 


74  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

considerable  effort,  about  1,700  students  were  tested,  in- 
cluding all  the  pupils  who  were  studying  algebra  at  the 
time  the  tests  were  given. » 

Owing  to  the  different  lengths  of  time  that  different 
groups  had  studied  algebra,  it  was  found  convenient  to 
tabulate  and  report  them  in  six  separate  divisions,  ac- 
cording to  the  length  of  time  the  pupils  have  pursued  the 
subject.  Judged  by  accepted  standards,  the  algebra 
results  achieved  in  our  high  schools  are  far  below  what 
they  should  be.  For  example,  children  in  the  rural  high 
schools  who  have  studied  algebra  more  than  a  year 
achieved  results  in  addition  which  should  be  achieved  in 
from  three  to  five  months.  Even  in  the  larger  city  high 
schools  students  who  have  studied  algebra  for  more  than 
a  year  only  slightly  exceed  the  standard  for  pupils  who 
have  pursued  the  subject  less  than  six  months. 

City  high  school  pupils  do  better  than  rural  high  school 
pupils  in  the  solution  of  equations  and  formulas.  How- 
ever, in  neither  case  do  the  achievements  in  the  solution 
of  equations  and  formulas  by  students  who  have  studied 
algebra  from  eleven  to  fourteen  months  exceed  the  scores 
of  pupils  in  good  schools  who  have  studied  the  subject 
only  from  six  to  eight  months. 

Whatever  differences  of  opinion  may  exist  with  regard 
to  the  desirability  of  the  extensive  teaching  of  algebra 
in  high  schools,  there  will  probably  be  general  agreement 
that  if  algebra  is  to  be  studied  at  all,  its  fundamentals 
should  be  thoroughly  taught.  By  some  it  is  argued  that 
skill  in  the  fundamental  operations  may  be  sacrificed 
until  pupils  have  acquired  a  real  interest  in  what  algebraic 
processes  mean;  but  even  the  advocates  of  postponement 
would  hardly  argue  that  pupils  should  go  on  for  six,  nine, 
eleven,  and  even  twenty  months  in  the  subject  without 
a   real   mastery    of   the    fundamental    skills    involved. 


'Hotz's  Algebra  Tests,  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Publications,  Teachers  College, 
Columbia  University,  New  York,  were  employed. 


Instruction 


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76  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

If  children  can  not  or  do  not  learn  to  add  and  subtract 
quickly  and  accurately  by  algebraic  methods,  and  if  they 
can  not  easily  solve  simple  equations  and  readily  resolve 
simple  formulas,  there  can  be  no  mastery  of  the  more 
difficult  algebraic  principles.  North  Carolina  high 
school  pupils  do  not  even  learn  the  elements  of  the  subject 
as  well  as  they  are  mastered  by  the  better  taught  high 
school  pupils  in  other  states. 

Latin 

High  school  students  were  also  examined  in  Latin.  A 
simple  examination  in  this  subject  was  given  to  about 
500  students  who  had  studied  it  more  than  two  years. 
The  papers  were  graded  by  disinterested  teachers  of  the 
subject  who  unite  in  pronouncing  the  results  "  lamentable.  " 
Only  23  per  cent  of  those  examined  made  a  mark  of  50 
per  cent  or  better.  If  we  take  60  per  cent  as  the  passing 
mark,  only  14  per  cent  passed  the  examination.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  teaching  is  extremely  inefficient,  partly, 
no  doubt,  because  so  many  teachers  are  untrained,  partly, 
also,  because  the  high  schools  are  forced  by  colleges  and 
universities  to  attempt  more  work  than  students  or  teach- 
ers can  successfully  perform.  There  must  be  better 
teachers  of  course,  but  the  colleges  must  co-operate  with 
the  schools  by  so  scaling  down  their  requirements  that 
they  can  be  honestly  and  efficiently  met.  A  less  pre- 
tentious requirement,  more  adequately  met,  will  raise, 
not  lower,  the  standards  and  ideals  of  both  high  schools 
and  colleges. 

Larger  School  Units 

The  results  of  the  tests,  particularly  in  the  elementary 
schools,  show  clearly  the  beneficial  effects  of  large  schools. 
The  large  schools  not  only  achieved  higher  scores  for  the 
several  grades  in  the  subjects  tested,  but  they  move  their 
children  along  through  the  grades    more   regularly,   so 


Instruction  77 

that  thirteen  year  old  children  in  our  city  systems  are 
from  two  to  three  years  beyond  children  of  like  age  in 
our  smaller  rural  schools.  Such  facts  point  to  only  one 
conclusion — viz.,  that  the  cities  and  towns  have  better 
schools. 

The  truth  of  this  conclusion  is  evident  in  the  results 
achieved  in  the  rural  schools  of  various  sizes.  The  aver- 
age age  of  seventh  grade  pupils  in  one  teacher  schools  is 
about  fifteen  years  and  three  months,  which  is  approxi- 
mately one  year  greater  than  the  average  age  of  seventh 
grade  pupils  in  four  teacher  schools.  The  scores  of 
these  two  groups  in  reading  are  practically  the  same, 
which  means,  when  age  is  taken  into  consideration,  that 
the  one  teacher  schools  have  failed  by  as  much  as  one 
year  in  doing  as  well  by  their  pupils  as  the  four  teacher 
schools.  The  same  story  is  repeated  in  addition,  multi- 
plication, spelling,  and  United  States  history. 

The  difference  between  the  achievements  of  rural  school 
and  city  school  children,  and  between  the  large  and  small 
rural  school  children  is,  of  course,  not  only  a  result  of 
better  gradation  and  better  instruction,  but  is  also  due 
to  the  greater  length  of  the  school  year  and  more  regular 
attendance.  As  previously  pointed  out,  city  schools 
have  a  school  year  ranging  from  eight  and  a  half  to  nine 
months;  many  of  the  larger  rural  schools  have  a  school 
year  of  similar  length,  but  in  one  room  schools,  until  the 
present  year,  the  term  has  been  only  four  and  a  half 
months — it  is  now  six  months.  Obviously,  it  is  impossible 
for  teachers  in  the  smaller  rural  schools  to  do,  with  less 
regular  attendance,  as  much  for  their  children  in  six 
months  as  the  teachers  in  the  larger  rural  and  city  schools 
do  for  their  children  in  eight  to  nine  months. 

The  superior  results  achieved  in  the  larger  elementary 
schools,  both  rural  and  city,  are  an  unanswerable  argument 
for  school  consolidation.  The  full  value  of  consolidation 
begins  to  be  realized  only  in  schools  employing  four  or 


78 


Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 


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Instruction  79 

more  teachers,  though  even  the  two  and  three  teacher 
schools  possess  certain  advantages  over  the  one  room 
school.  In  a  state  like  ours  there  will  always  be  a  large 
number  of  one  room  rural  schools,  and  these  should  be 
made  as  efficient  as  possible.  But  every  effort  should 
be  exerted  to  consolidate  these  small  schools  into  large 
units,  and  the  unit  aimed  at  should  not  be  less  than  four 
teachers. 

What  is  true  of  elementary  schools  is  equally  true  of 
high  schools.  The  results  of  all  our  tests  point  unmistak- 
ably to  the  advantage  of  the  large  high  school,  which 
makes  possible  the  employment  of  better  teachers,  the 
better  classification  of  children,  and  the  development  of 
a  more  effective  school  life.  Just  as  we  should,  as  far  as 
possible,  eliminate  the  small  rural  elementary  school 
through  consolidation,  so  we  should  eliminate  the  small 
rural  high  school  by  similar  process.  Indeed,  it  might 
well  be  argued  that  high  school  consolidation  is  even 
more  necessary  than  elementary  school  consolidation; 
for  a  small  elementary  school,  though  undesirable 
and  relatively  inefficient,  can  and  must  occasionally 
be  resorted  to.  But  a  small  high  school  simply  can  not 
be  efficient;  one  or  two  teachers  can  not  be  provided  with 
the  facilities  required  for  high  school  work,  nor  can  so 
small  a  number  of  teachers  carry  the  varied  load  of  in- 
struction contained  within  even  an  unpretentious  high 
school  curriculum.  Fortunately,  high  school  consoli- 
dation is  in  some  respects  a  comparatively  simple  matter; 
the  pupils,  being  older,  can  be  transported  longer  dis- 
tances, and  can  even  board  at  centrally  located  county 
institutions. 

To  summarize,  our  study  of  the  quality  of  instruc- 
tion now  offered  in  the  public  schools  of  North  Carolina 
confirms  the  impression  made  by  the  study  of  the  separate 
items  that  go  to  constitute  a  public  school  system.  We 
have    admitted  ungrudgingly  the  great  progress  made  in 


80  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

a  brief  period.  None  the  less,  as  things  now  stand,  despite 
all  that  has  been  accomplished,  the  state  possesses  the 
outline  or  skeleton  of  a  school  system  rather  than  a  de- 
veloped school  system.  Buildings  are  still  mainly  poor, 
teachers  are  still  mainly  untrained,  financial  support  is 
still  inadequate,  supervision  is  still  ineffective.  It  follows, 
affthe  present  chapter  shows,  that  instruction  is,  in  general, 
of  inferior  quality.  In  elementary  schools,  as  in  high 
schools,  pupils  do  not  learn  thoroughly  the  fundamental 
things  which  the  schools  are  designed  to  teach ;  the  results, 
compared  with  the  results  obtained  elsewhere  in  the 
United  States — whether  cities,  towns,  or  rural  districts — 
are  uniformly  to  the  disadvantage  of    North  Carolina. 


PART  II 

HINDRANCES  TO  DEVELOPMENT 

CHAPTERS  VI-VII 


[811 


VI.     ADMINISTRATIVE  HANDICAPS 

WE  have  been  engaged  thus  far  in  describing  the 
schools  as  they  are;  it  is  next  in  order  to  con- 
sider the  steps  to  be  taken  to  improve  them.  If, 
however,  we  turn  aside  and  consider  a  few  of  the  major 
hindrances  that  have  retarded  school  progress,  we  shall 
be  better  able  to  appreciate  the  reasons  for  some  of  the 
conditions  that  now  exist  and  we  shall  also  be  better 
able  to  appreciate  the  need  of  certain  changes  in  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  the  state  affecting  the  admin- 
istration and  organization  of  the  schools.  Among  the 
hindrances  to  be  considered  in  this  chapter  are  the  han- 
dicaps on  effective  administration. 

The  administrative  handicaps  on  our  public  school 
system  spring,  in  the  first  instance,  from  the  educational 
provisions  of  the  state  constitution.  The  schools  operate 
under  the  constitution  of  1876,  as  amended.  This  places 
on  the  general  assembly  the  responsibility  of  providing 
a  uniform  and  free  system  of  pubUc  schools.  If  the  con- 
stitution of  1876  had  also  safeguarded  the  perpetuity 
and  inviolability  of  the  Literary  Fund,  and  then  stopped, 
it  would  have  conformed  to  the  best  present  day  practice. 
But  like  most  constitutions  of  that  time,  it  did  not  stop 
with  these  provisions.  It  provided,  in  addition,  for  an 
ex  officio  state  board  of  education,  composed  of  the  gover- 
nor, lieutenant-governor,  secretary  of  state,  treasurer, 
auditor,  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  and  attorney 
general,  with  the  governor  as  president,  and  the  state 
superintendent  as  secretary,  of  the  board,  and  for  the 
election  of  the  state  superintendent  of  public  instruction 
at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  manner  as  other  state 
officers.  Like  other  officers  similarly  elected,  the  state 
superintendent  is  an  executive  of  the  state  and  a  member 
of  the  council  of  state. 

[83] 


84  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  convention  of  1876  thought 
an  ex  officio  board  would  answer  as  the  centrahzing  and 
directive  head  of  the  pubhc  schools,  for  it  was  difficult, 
to  say  the  least,  in  1876  to  foretell  the  demands  of  the 
schools  in  1921.  Nor  is  it  surprising  that  the  powers 
of  the  board  were  not  clearly  defined,  for  the  proper 
powers  of  such  a  board  were  then  little  understood. 
Whatever  the  full  scope  of  the  powers  conferred,  they 
extend  in  two  separate,  though  related,  directions:  first, 
over  the  operation  and  conduct  of  the  schools  themselves, 
and,  second,  over  the  management  and  administration 
of  the  state  educational  fund.  For  the  board  is  vested 
with  "full  power  to  legislate  and  make  all  needful  rules 
and  regulations  in  relation  to  free  public  schools  and  the 
educational  fund  of  the  state."  At  the  same  time,  the 
board  is  Umited  in  the  exercise  of  its  "full  power, "  because 
it  is  made  responsible  and  subordinate  to  the  general 
assembly — "all  acts,  rules  and  regulations  of  said  board 
may  be  altered,  amended,  or  replaced  by  the  general 
assembly. " 

Accordingly,  the  general  assembly  has  never  hesitated 
to  add  to  or  subtract  from  the  powers  actually  exercised 
by  the  state  board  of  education.  This  is  illustrated  in 
the  management  of  the  Literary  Fund.  From  the  very 
beginning  the  general  assembly  prescribed  the  type  of 
securities  in  which  the  board  should  invest  the  principal, 
determined  also  the  manner  of  apportioning  the  income 
therefrom  among  the  counties,  and  in  1903  completely 
changed  the  use  of  this  fund,  providing  that  the  income 
therefrom  should  no  longer  be  distributed  among  the 
counties  for  current  school  expenses,  but  that  both  prin- 
cipal and  interest  should  thereafter  constitute  a  permanent 
revolving  fund  to  be  loaned  to  county  boards  of  education 
for  the  erection  of  school  buildings. 

The  general  assembly  has  pursued  a  similar  policy  with 
the  educational  powers  of  the  board.     Legislative  pro- 


Hanes  School — Forsyth  County 


Spray — Rockingham  County 


NEW  TYPE  LARGE  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Administrative  Handicaps  85 

visions-  for  the  selection  of  textbooks  are  typical.  At  one 
time  the  general  assembly  authorized  the  state  board  of 
education  to  prescribe  these.  Later  it  limited  the  power 
of  the  board  to  that  of  recommendation,  afterward  restored 
the  power  of  adoption  and  later  divided  this  with  a  sub- 
commission  appointed  by  the  governor  and  state  superin- 
tendent, and,  finally,  in  1919,  provided  an  independent 
body,  to  be  appointed  by  the  state  superintendent,  to 
choose  textbooks  for  high  schools. 

In  the  exercise  of  its  authority,  the  general  assembly 
has  apparently  had  due  regard  for  what  would  seem  to 
be  the  board's  constitutional  powers  over  the  state  educa- 
tional fund,  but  it  has  not  shown  similar  consideration 
for  what  would  seem  to  be  the  board's  constitutional 
rights  in  the  management  of  educational  affairs.  New 
administrative  officers  and  boards  are  created,  now  in- 
dependent of,  now  subordinate  to,  the  state  board.  For 
example,  the  state  board  of  education  is  authorized  to 
prescribe  rules  and  regulations  for  conducting  schools 
to  teach  adult  illiterates  and  to  spend  annually  not  more 
than  $5,000  in  the  organization  and  administration  of 
this  work  under  the  direction  of  the  state  superintendent. 
In  contrast,  the  state  board  of  vocational  education  is 
an  independent  creation,  exercising  large  powers:  it 
prescribes  courses  of  study,  certificates  teachers,  and 
expends  public  money.  The  college  commission  regulat- 
ing degrees  is  likewise  an  independent  body,  as  is  also 
the  high  school  textbook  commission,  and  the  commission 
on  instruction  in  agriculture,  manual  training,  and  home 
economics.  The  board  of  trustees  of  the  Appalachian 
Training  School  is  not  only  an  independent,  but  a  self- 
perpetuating  body.  On  the  other  hand,  the  state  board 
of  education  appoints  the  trustees  of  the  Cherokee  Indian 
Normal  School,  the  East  Carolina  Teachers  Training 
School,  and,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate, 
those  of  the  State  College  for  Women  and  the  CuUowhee 


86         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

Normal  and  Industrial  School.  The  state  board  of  ex- 
aminers and  institute  conductors  is  a  unique  complex. 
The  state  superintendent  is  an  ex  officio  member  and 
president,  and  the  superintendent  of  Negro  normal  schools 
and  the  Cherokee  Indian  Normal  School  and  super- 
visor of  teacher  training  is  ex  officio  secretary;  the  governor 
appoints  six  regular  members.  The  state  board  fixes  the 
salaries  of  the  several  regular  members  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  executive  committee  of  the  North 
Carolina  Teachers  Assembly,  and  the  state  board  maj'- 
dismiss  them  for  cause,  with  right  of  appeal  to  the  courts. 

This  variable  policy  on  the  part  of  the  general  assembly 
has  had  a  twofold  effect.  On  the  one  hand,  it  has  pre- 
vented the  development  in  the  state  board  of  education 
of  a  strong  sense  of  stewardship  and  a  keen  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility for  the  schools;  the  board  has  performed  such 
duties  as  the  law  imposed,  but  our  schools  have  never 
felt  the  unifying  and  directive  influence  of  a  determined, 
progressive  board  at  their  head. 

The  fact  that  the  board  is  ex  officio  has  probably  pre- 
vented the  general  assembly  from  giving  it  adequate 
and  appropriate  powers.  Its  members  are  without  ex- 
ception state  officers,  elected  on  a  party  platform,  and 
committed  to  an  administration  program.  Moreover, 
with  the  specific  duties  of  their  respective  offices  to  per- 
form, it  is  difficult  for  them  to  give  the  needed  time  and 
thought  to  the  solution  of  the  intricate  problems  involved 
in  the  creation  and  general  management  of  a  compre- 
hensive state  school  system. 

The  unstable  character  of  an  ex  officio  board  counts 
also  against  it.  In  order  to  secure  stability  and  continuity 
of  pohcy,  the  membership  of  a  board  of  education  should 
be  liable  only  to  gradual  change.  The  danger  is  always 
present  that  the  membership  of  the  present  board,  in- 
cluding the  state  superintendent,  may  change  completely 
and  abruptly  at  the  end  of  each  four  years,  thus  opening 


Administrative  Handicaps  87 

the  way  for  passing  political  upheavals  to  influence  or 
alter  the  educational  pohcies  of  the  state.  ^ 

For  these  and  other  reasons,  the  state  constitution 
should  be  so  amended  as  to  permit  the  general  assembly 
to  create  a  state  board  of  education  free  from  such  defects 
and  dangers.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  fullest  use  should 
be  made  of  the  present  board. 

Again,  the  ever-changing  pohcies  of  the  legislature 
have  resulted  in  such  a  confusion  of  unrelated  activities 
and  boards  as  to  render  effective  administration  extremely 
difficult.  There  are  now,  as  has  been  stated,  a  half  dozen 
unrelated  and  independent  bodies,  each  heading  some 
part  of  the  system,  each  working  in  its  own  way  in  the 
management  of  an  enterprise  that,  in  the  last  analysis, 
depends  for  success  upon  unity  of  aim  and  program. 

One  illustration — the  high  schools — will  suffice  to 
make  clear  the  confusion  and  division  of  authority.  Until 
1919,  the  state  board  of  education  prescribed  the  rules 
and  regulations  for  establishing  and  maintaining  the  so- 
called  state  high  schools.  Now  the  board  only  apportions 
state  funds  to  them.  The  state  superintendent  prescribes 
rules  and  regulations  as  to  organization  and  courses  of 
study,  and,  along  ^vith  a  commission  appointed  by  him- 
self, selects  the  textbooks.  The  state  board  of  vocational 
education  has  charge  of  vocational  instruction,  while 
another  commission  prescribes  general  courses  for  agri- 
culture, manual  training,  and  home  economics.  The 
state  board  of  examiners  certificates  the  teachers.  And, 
finally,  the  high  schools  are  inspected  by  an  official  ap- 
pointed by  the  state  superintendent. 

With  no  single  body  legally  responsible  for  the  schools 
as  a  whole,  and  rarely  for  any  one  entire  field  of  activity, 
a  unified  policy  can  not  be  devised   or  pursued.     The 


'The  fact  that  within  recent  years  the  same  officials  have  been  repeatedly  returned 
to  office  has  prevented  the  state  from  appreciating  this  danger;  the  danger  never- 
theless exists. 


88         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

schools  will  continue  to  suffer  under  this  handicap  until 
all  the  agencies  sharing  authority  with  the  state  board 
are  abolished,  and  the  state  board  becomes,  as  would 
seem  to  be  the  intent  of  the  constitution,  the  unifying, 
directive  head  of  the  system. 

There  is  a  further  handicap  to  be  considered — divided 
administrative  leadership.  The  constitutional  provisions 
for  a  state  board  of  education  and  for  a  superintendent 
of  public  instruction  would  seem  to  imply  that  the  state 
superintendent  is  to  be  the  executive  officer  of  the  state 
board  and  the  responsible  administrative  head  of  the 
pubhc  schools.  The  general  assembly  has,  however, 
not  endowed  the  state  superintendent  with  such  powers 
and  authority. 

His  election  by  popular  vote  may  have  caused  the 
general  assembly  to  hesitate.  Certainly,  the  increasing 
complexity  of  public  education,  its  increasing  cost,  the 
growing  amount  of  technical  experience  and  knowledge 
required  for  scientific  administration  have  rendered  pro- 
gressively unsatisfactory  the  selection  of  a  state  superin- 
tendent by  popular  election.  The  office  is  now  and 
always  has  been  open  to  any  respectable  citizen,  irrespec- 
tive of  educational  qualifications.  Moreover,  to  place 
the  state  superintendent  on  the  same  platform  as  other 
state  officials,  bind  him  to  party  pledges,  and  make  him 
a  member  of  the  council  of  state,  identifies  him  with 
active  pofitics,  and  endangers  the  independent  adminis- 
tration of  the  schools.  The  best  man  obtainable  is  none 
too  good  to  fill  so  high  an  office.  Appropriate  safeguards 
should  be  thrown  around  it,  and  the  state  superintendent 
should  be  free  to  administer  the  schools  in  the  interest 
of  all  the  children  of  all  the  people  of  the  state,  regardless 
of  party  politics. 

For  two  decades  we  have  been  spared  the  possible 
vicious  effects  of  electing  the  state  superintendent,  but 
future  experience  may  not  be  so  fortunate.    The  present 


Administrative  Handicaps  89 

state  superintendent  and  his  predecessor  were  both  ap- 
pointed to  fill  unexpired  terms;  otherwise  probably  neither 
would  have  been  a  candidate.  Experience  has  proved 
that  appointment  by  a  responsible  board  is  far  the  surest 
means  of  securing  and  retaining  a  competent  state  super- 
intendent. In  order  to  free  the  office  from  all  political 
connection,  and  to  secure  the  best  man  available,  there 
should  be  eliminated  from  the  constitution  all  sections 
relating  to  the  election  and  duties  of  the  state  superin- 
tendent. In  the  meantime,  legislation  is  required  to 
define  the  necessary  professional  qualifications  of  the 
incumbent,  and  the  salary  of  the  office  should  be  increased. 
A  state  superintendent  has  no  other  business  or  vocation, 
and  can  not  afford  to  serve  the  state,  however  great  the 
privilege  and  honor,  if  living  conditions  compel  him  to 
spend  more  than  he  receives.  A  salary  of  S4,000,  to  say 
nothing  of  $3,000,  is  inadequate;  county  and  city  super- 
intendents frequently  receive  more.  His  salary  might 
properly  be  doubled,  and  certainly  should  not  be  less  than 
$6,000.  For  example,  IVIaryland  pays  S8,000,  and  New 
Jersey,  $10,000. 

These  limitations  surrounding  the  office  of  the  state 
superintendent  are  not  the  only  hindrances  to  effective 
management  of  our  schools.  As  stated  above,  adminis- 
trative responsibility  is  now  scattered  among  many 
agencies  and  boards.  In  certain  instances  the  state 
superintendent  acts  as  the  executive  officer  of  the  state 
board ;  for  example,  in  making  loans  from  the  state  hterary 
fund,  in  apportioning  state  school  funds,  in  establishing 
schools  for  adult  ilhterates,  and  in  school  extension  work. 
Quite  as  often,  the  law  authorizes  or  designates  another 
agent,  as  in  the  supervision  of  colored  normal  schools 
and  the  selection  of  elementary  textbooks.  In  other 
instances,  even  though  the  state  board  manages  the  funds 
appropriated,  activities  are  inaugurated,  such  as  the  prep- 
aration of  schoolhouse  plans  for  which  no  one  is  appar- 


90  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

ently  responsible.  Executive  authority  in  those  parts  of 
the  system  not  under  the  state  board  is  similarly  scattered. 
In  some  instances  the  state  superintendent  is  authorized 
to  act  as  an  independent  agent;  for  example,  in  prescrib- 
ing rules  and  regulations  as  to  the  organization  and  courses 
of  study  for  high  schools,  for  the  conduct  of  rural  libraries, 
and  for  the  management  of  the  Cullowhee  Normal  and 
Industrial  School.  In  still  others,  he  becomes  the  execu- 
tive officer  of  independent  boards;  for  example,  the  state 
board  of  vocational  education. 

Working  through  these  several  minor  boards,  as  well 
as  the  state  board  of  education,  a  forceful  state  superin- 
tendent may  give  a  certain  consistency  to  the  management 
of  the  schools.  At  best,  however,  he  is  compelled  to 
operate  amid  conditions  that  are  highly  unfavorable  to 
efficiency.  Nor  can  the  disadvantages  be  completely 
overcome,  unless  these  independent  agencies  and  boards 
are  stripped  of  their  legal  administrative  powers  and 
the  state  superintendent  is  made  the  executive  officer 
of  the  state  board  of  education,  the  responsible  adminis- 
trative head  of  the  system. 

Thus  to  centralize  executive  authority  will  not  only 
insure  a  better  administration  of  the  schools,  but  will 
also  simplify  the  administrative  machinery.  Independ- 
ent boards  and  agencies  will  disappear  and  their  func- 
tions will  be  taken  over  by  divisions  in  the  office  of 
the  state  department  of  education;  the  heads  of  divisions 
will  be  appointed  by  the  state  board  of  education  and 
will  be  responsible  to  the  board  through  the  state  super- 
intendent, its  executive  officer. 

To  conclude,  before  the  way  is  open  for  the  most  effect- 
ive type  of  state  school  organization  and  administration 
it  will  be  necessary  to  efiminate  from  the  constitution  all 
sections  relating  to  the  state  board  of  education  and  to 
the  superintendent  of  public  instruction,  replacing  them 
by  a  provision  giving  the  legislature  the  power  needed  to 


Consolidated  School^Wake  County 


Farm  Life  School — Craven  County 


DORMITORIES— LARGE  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Administrative  Handicaps  91 

create  the  necessary  instruments  Meanwhile,  many  of 
the  present  administrative  handicaps  are  due  quite  as 
much  to  statutory  as  to  constitutional  limitations. 
Even  as  the  constitution  stands,  the  state  board  of  educa- 
tion can,  through  well  considered  legislation,  be  made 
the  real  head  of  the  public  school  system,  the  state  su- 
perintendent can  be  made  its  executive  officer,  with  com- 
plete administrative  responsibility,  and  the  office  can  be 
properly  safeguarded  and  the  salary  increased,  thus 
guaranteeing  to  the  schools  freedom  from  politics  and 
greater  unity  of  poHcy  and  effectiveness  of  management. 


VII.     LIMITATIONS  AND  CONFLICTING 
DEVELOPMENTS 

THE  CONSTITUTION  of  1876,  as  amended, 
recognized  the  county  as  the  chief  local  unit  of 
school  administration.  The  county  commissioners 
were  made  responsible  for  maintaining  schools  adequate 
in  number  and  conveniently  located  for  at  least  six 
months!  in  every  school  year.  Their  "general  super- 
vision and  control"  of  the  schools  is,  however,  subject  to 
the  discretion  of  the  general  assembly. 

In  the  exercise  of  this  discretionary  power,  and  in  the 
effort  to  comply  vnih.  the  constitutional  mandate  as  to 
the  minimum  length  of  school  term,  pohtical  and  economic 
conditions  have  at  times  led  to  compromises;  a  lack  of 
supporting  public  sentiment  has  often  delayed  appropriate 
legislation  or  prevented  it  from  becoming  effective.  Now 
one  plan,  now  another  has  been  followed.  The  result 
is  a  number  of  serious  statutory  limitations  on  school 
progress,  and  a  number  of  cross-developments;  for  ex- 
ample, the  development  side  by  side  of  two  mutually 
exclusive  systems  of  local  school  administration,  the 
county  system  and  the  district  system. 

Tradition  favored  a  county  school  system.  In  a  fully 
developed  county  system,  a  single  central  hoard  controls 
and  supervises  through  its  agents  all  the  schools  of  a  county, 
except  those  of  large  cities,  and  all  property  in  the  county 
is  taxed  for  the  support  of  all  the  schools  of  the  county, 
to  the  end  that  all  the  children  of  the  county  may  enjoy 
similar  educational  opportunities.  This  type  of  organ- 
ization has  more  and  more  come  to  be  recommended  by 
those  who  have  seriously  studied  the  needs  of  rural  states. 


iPrior  to  1918,  four  months. 
92] 


Limitations  and  Conflicting  Developments     93 

In  adopting  a  county  form  of  school  organization  we  were, 
therefore,  ■wdse  and  fortunate.  But  we  have  developed 
neither  the  financial  nor  the  educational  possibilities  of 
such  a  system. 

For  example,  at  no  time  has  the  county  assumed  full 
responsibility  for  providing  all  s-jhools  with  suitable 
buildings  and  equipment.'  The  to"v\Tiship  or  the  district 
has  always  shared  in  this  responsibility.  Prior  to  1901 
the  money  raised  by  state  and  county  taxes,  along  wdth 
other  school  revenues,  and  apportioned  to  the  to-umships 
or  districts,  was  supposed  to  be  sufficient  to  care  for  current 
school  expenses,  such  as  teachers'  salaries,  fuel,  etc.,  and 
also  sufficient  to  provide  suitable  grounds,  buildings, 
and  equipment.  But  this  was  rarely  the  case.  The 
money  so  apportioned  was  not  adequate,  in  most  instances, 
even  to  maintain  the  schools  for  the  minimum  term  of 
four  months.  Indeed,  in  1901,  74  of  the  97  counties 
required  aid  from  the  equahzation  fund  to  bring  their 
school  terms  up  to  the  constitutional  minimum.  Since 
1901,  county  boards  have  reserved  from  moneys  in  hand, 
before  apportionment,  a  specific  proportion  as  a  building 
and  repair  fund,  but  in  no  instance  could  they  contribute 
more  than  a  half  of  the  cost  of  a  new  school  building.* 

As  the  districts  were  not  permitted  to  tax  themselves 
for  school  purposes  prior  to  1901,'  the  needed  local  funds 
for  school  buildings  were  usually  raised  by  private 
subscription.  When  this  method  failed,  the  school  term 
was  at  times. shortened,  or  school  was  abandoned  alto- 
gether, and  the  loval  authorities  used  the  county  appor- 
tionment to  provide  needed  schoolliouses.  Since  1901 
approximately  2,000   districts  have   voted  a  special  tax 


'The  county  board  of  education  in  1901  assumed  responsibility  for  sites  or  school 
grounds. 

^Happily,  the  special  session  of  the  general  assembly  in  1920  removed  this  limi- 
tation. 

'There  was,  however,  a  long  standing  law  permitting  townships  to  vote  a  nominal 

ocal  tax,  but  few  townships  acted  favorably. 


94        Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

to  supplement  the  county  apportionment,  but  about 
6,000  other  districts  refuse  to  sanction  such  a  tax,  and 
reniain  dependent  on  private  generosity  for  their  half  of 
any  building  funds.  Thus,  the  greatest  institution  of 
democracy — the  public  school — continues  in  three-fourths 
of  the  districts  of  the  state  on  a  semi-charitable  basis. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising  that  our 
schools  are  inadequately  housed   and   poorly  equipped. 

There  is,  however,  a  growing  sense  of  the  need  of  the 
county's  assuming  full  responsibility  for  the  material 
equipment  of  all  schools.  The  legislation  of  1901,  per- 
mitting the  county  boards  to  reserve  a  building  and 
repair  fund,  was  a  step  in  this  direction;  the  legislation 
of  1911,  permitting  counties  to  vote  a  county-wide  ad- 
ditional special  tax,  was  a  further  advance ;  and  the  final 
legislative  step  was  taken  in  1915,  when  counties  were 
authorized  to  vote  county  bonds  for  school  buildings. 
But  an  aroused  public  sentiment  is  required  to  give  effect 
to  this  legislation.  To  date,  only  three  counties — 
Beaufort,  New  Hanover,  and  Wilson — have  sanctioned 
a  county-wide  additional  special  tax,  and  New  Hanover 
stands  alone  in  voting  a  county  bond  issue  to  carry  out 
a  county-wide  building  program. 

In  the  meantime,  help  is  promised  from  another  source. 
A  recent  supreme  court  decision  sustains  the  position 
of  the  Alamance  county  board  of  education,  holding 
that  schoolLouses  are  an  essential  part  of  a  school.  This 
decision  covers  repairs  and  additions  to  old  buildings. 
Should  it  also  cover  new  buildings  and  grounds,  as  inter- 
preted by  the  attorney-general,  county  boards  of  education 
can  assume  full  responsibility  for  the  material  equij.ment 
of  all  the  schools  of  the  county,  and  secure  the  levy  of 
the  needed  taxes  therefor,  if  they  are  so  minded,  with- 
out submitting  the  question  to  popular  vote.  Whatever 
the  final  interpretation  of  this  decision,  this  should  be 
clear:     Until   county  boards  of  education    can   assume 


Limitations  and  Conflicting  Development^     95 

responsibility  for  the  material  equipment  of  all  schools, 
the  possibilities  of  a  county  school  system  can  not  be 
realized,  and  districts,  lying  side  by  side,  will  continue 
the  one  to  have  a  model  plant,  the  other,  the  poorest 
kind  of  a  schoolhouse. 

There  is  another  equally  serious  limitation  on  the  full 
development  of  our  county  system.  County  boards  of 
education  are  not  authorized  to  assume  financial  responsi- 
bility for  more  than  a  six  months'  school  term.  A  term 
of  this  length  is  inadequate.  Thoughtful  citizens  of  the 
state  appreciate  this  fact,  but  the  constitution  in  most 
instances  estops  county  boards  of  education  from  financ- 
ing a  longer  uniform  term  "wdthout  the  approval  of  the 
people.  The  result  is  a  wide  variation  in  school  terms. 
For  example,  in  the  cities,  the  average  length  approximates 
eight  and  a  half  months;  in  the  2,000  special  tax  districts, 
between  seven  and  eight  months;  and  in  the  other  6,000 
districts,  six  months  for  the  first  time  this  year,  except  in  a 
few  counties.  These  inequalities  are  of  long  standing  and 
inflict  a  great  injustice  on  the  children  of  the  less  pro- 
gressive districts.  To  eliminate  them,  the  general  assem- 
bly in  1917  authorized  the  le\^  of  a  county-wide  addi- 
tional special  school  tax,  but,  as  stated  abve,  up  to  date 
only  three  counties  have  taken  favorable  action. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  restricted  financial  powers  of 
county  boards  of  education  have  lent  strength  to  two 
movements  which  further  comphcate  the  situation — 
the  formation  of  special  tax  districts,  and  the  organ- 
ization of  specially  chartered  or  city  districts. 

Even  in  states  having  a  highly  developed  county  system, 
cities  of  size  are  generally  organized  as  separate  districts. 
The  number  of  city  or  specialh^  chartered  districts  in 
North  Carolina  is,  however,  unusual.  Progressive  com- 
munities chafed  under  the  slow  development  of  the  county 
schools.  To  gain  relief,  they  petitioned  the  general 
assembly  for  special  school  charters.    Altogether,   there 


96  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

are  now  136  such  charters  alive,  27  of  which  were  issued 
between  1875  and  1899  and  109  since  1901.  These  city 
districts  range  in  size  from  Winston-Salem  to  three 
teacher  centers. 

The  charters  of  city  districts  differ  from  one  another 
in  important  details,  and,  along  with  their  respective 
amendments,  constitute  a  mass  of  special  school  legis- 
lation of  which  no  one  knows  the  extent.'  These  charters 
bear,  however,  certain  common  marks  worthy  of  note. 
Most  of  them  are  drawn  without  regard  to  the  relation 
that  should  exist  between  city  school  districts  and  a 
state  school  system.  Not  until  1901  were  city  districts 
required  to  make  reports;  at  that  time  they  were  also 
brought  under  the  general  supervision  of  the  state  de- 
partment of  education.  But  long  after  that,  they  failed 
to  make  reports,  certificated  their  own  teachers,  fixed 
salaries  and  adopted  textbooks,  A\'ithout  regard  to  the 
general  school  laws  or  rulings  of  the  state  board  of  educa- 
tion. Indeed,  only  recently  have  they  come  into  any- 
thing like  intimate  relationship  Avith  the  state  depart- 
ment of  education. 

These  city  charters  are  distinctly  inadequate  as  guides 
in  the  development  of  modem  city  schools.  They  ordi- 
narily provide  for  a  board  of  education,  the  establishment 
of  graded  schools,  the  employment  of  a  superintendent 
and  teachers,  and  bestow  on  the  voters  of  the  district 
the  right  to  vote  school  taxes  up  to  a  specified  limit;  but 
they  do  not  clearly  define  the  powers  and  duties  of  the 
board  of  education,  the  relation  between  the  board 
of  education  and  the  superintendent,  the  duties  and 
powers  of  the  superintendent,  the  status  of  the  teachers — 
in  short,  the  details  upon  which  the  modern  city  school 
really  depends. 

Written  by  different  men,  at  different  times  and  under 


'The  Public  School  Law  of  1919  contaias  972  references  to  these  special  acts,    and 
the  list  is  incomplete. 


Limitations  and  Conflicting  Developments        97 

different  circumstances,  the  specific  provisions  of  these 
city  charters  vary  enormously  and  without  reason.  For 
example,  the  maximum  property  tax  that  may  be  voted 
ranges  from  a  total  annual  tax  of  $50  to  an  annual  levy 
of  $1.25  on  each  1100  of  assessed  property  value.  The 
boards  range  in  membership  from  3  to  24  persons.  They 
are  selected  in  various  ways:  by  county  boards  of  educa- 
tion; by  county  boards  of  education  and  county  superin- 
tendents ;  by  town  commissioners ;  by  town  commissioners 
and  county  boards  of  education;  by  city  aldermen;  by 
city  aldermen  and  local  boards  of  education;  while  in  30 
instances  they  are  elected  by  the  people,  and  in  24  the 
members  nominated  in  the  original  charter  select  their 
own  successors.  Self-perpetuating  boards  are  obviously 
indefensible. 

Charters  issued  prior  to  1901  were  undoubtedly  a  boon 
to  the  cities  getting  them,  but  most  of  the  districts  that 
received  charters  after  1901  might  better  have  remained 
under  the  county  system,  i  Moreover,  the  creation  of 
so  many  small  special  districts  reacted  imfavorably  on 
the  county  unit.  It  reduced  the  resources  of  the  county, 
lowered  its  dignity  and  prestige,  and  eliminated  a  most 
active  and  progressive  influence  for  better  schools. 

In  order  to  operate  their  schools  successfully  and  yet 
independently  of  the  county  system,  cities  must  be  of 
good  size  and  financially  able,  after  bearing  their  due 
proportion  of  county  and  state  school  taxes,  to  support 
schools  on  a  modern  basis.  There  are,  perhaps,  between 
20  and  30  of  our  cities  so  circumstanced  that  they  should 
be  permitted  to  continue  as  separate  districts.  However, 
in  that  event,  there  should  be  provided  for  all  these  dis- 
tricts a  single,  unified  code  adapted  to  the  needs  of  modern 
city  systems.  Such  a  code  will  remedy  the  present  legal 
confusion,  simplify    administration,    increase  public    in- 


'After  1901,  these  centers  could  have  taken  advantage  of  the  law  permitting  the 
formation  of  special  tax  districts. 


98        Public  Education  in   North  Carolina 

terest,  and  bring  city  school  legislation  into  conformity 
with  the  constitutional  mandate  requiring  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  "uniform  system  of  public  schools."  The 
remaining  specially  chartered  districts — numbering  ap- 
proximately 100— should  be  returned  to  the  v-ounty  system. 

This  ^^n\\  be  to  the  advantage  of  all  concerned.  The 
county  will  gain  in  resources,  prestige,  and  progressive- 
ness,  and  will  be  better  able  to  employ  the  highest  type 
of  superintendent  and  supervisor,  thus  securing  a  better 
administration  and  supervision  of  its  own  schools,  and 
of  the  schools  of  the  former  small  specially  chartered 
districts.  When  these  small  specially  chartered  districts 
are  rejoined  to  the  county,  they  will  become  special  tax 
districts,  of  which  there  are  already  approximately  2,000. 

Special  tax  districts,  as  suggested,  are  integral  parts 
of  the  county  school  system.  Such  districts  vote  an 
additional  special  tax,  beyond  the  state  and  county  school 
tax,  for  the  supplementary  support  of  their  schools.  As 
a  means  of  increasing  local  rural  school  support,  special 
tax  districts  have  proved  a  great  success.  For  example, 
the  amount  levied  locally  in  rural  districts  rose  from 
$16,000  in  1901  to  $810,000  in  1918.  They  have  also 
been  the  chief  means  of  arousing  renewed  interest  in 
rural  education,  and  of  effecting  consolidations.  The 
best  rural  schools  of  the  state  are  found  in  these  special 
tax  districts. 

Despite  the  immediately  favorable  results  following 
the  creation  of  special  tax  districts,  their  formation  has 
caused  wide  differences  in  educational  opportunity,  and 
produced  a  condition  which  threatens  to  hinder  future 
progress.  The  law  of  1901  removed  all  limits  on  the 
bounds  that  the  county  board  of  education  might  set 
for  a  special  tax  district.  With  this  freedom  and  under 
the  impelling  desire  to  secure  better  schools,  the  school 
districts  in  most  counties  have  been  gerrymandered  be- 
yond rehef.    Special  tax  district  lines  include  or  exclude 


Limitations  and  Conflicting  Developments    99 

farms,  according  as  the  owner  is  favorable  or  unfavor- 
able; they  extend  far  up  and  down  railroads,  and  far  up 
and  do^ai  rich  river  valleys — anywhere  to  enclose  taxable 
property,  particularly  of  corporations,  that  may  accrue 
to  the  benefit  of  the  particular  district.  As  a  result,  the 
special  districts,  although  they  number  only  about  a 
fourth  of  all  the  school  districts  of  the  state,  possess  the 
bulk  of  the  taxable  wealth  of  the  state. 

The  formation  of  special  tax  districts  has  thus  intro- 
duced most  of  the  objectionable  features  of  the  antiquated 
district  system.  There  are  rich  districts  and  poor  dis- 
tricts, good  schools  and  poor  schools,  literate  and  illiterate 
sections;  in  short,  educational  development  has  been 
spotty  and  uneven.  Moreover,  for  the  poorer  districts 
there  is  under  present  conditions  little  hope.  It  may  be 
possible  for  the  county  boards  of  education  under  a 
liberal  interpretation  of  the  supreme  court  decision  cited 
above  to  provide  these  districts  with  adequate  school- 
houses  and  appropriate  equipment  at  county  expense, 
but  is  is,  ordinarily,  impossible  for  county  boards  to  ex- 
tend their  school  terms  beyond  six  months,  and  they  are 
mostly  unable  to  help  themselves.  The  more  forward- 
looking  districts  long  since  preempted  much  of  the  valua- 
ble property  and  particularly  the  corporate  wealth  that 
might  properly  have  fallen  to  the  less  favored,  so  that 
even  if  the  poorer  districts  were  favorable  to  a  sup- 
plementary tax  at  a  high  rate,  the  amount  of  money  so 
raised  would  be  very  small,  because  the  value  of  the 
property  on  which  it  could  be  levied  is  so  limited. 

Such  educational  inequalities  render  the  county  system 
a  nominal  affair.  A  county-wide  additional  special 
school  tax  would  correct  conditions,  but  the  special  tax 
districts,  as  a  rule,  bar  the  way  to  this.  Districts  that 
have  long  enjoyed  exclusively  the  benefits  of  wealth, 
even  though  they  may  have  no  more  right  to  it  than  a 
neighboring  district,  are  reluctant  to  share  its  benefits. 


100        Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

To  redistrict  the  counties  with  a  view  to  a  more  equitable 
distribution  of  taxable  and  especially  of  corporate  prop- 
erty is  impracticable.  A  constitutional  amendment 
extending  the  compulsory  school  term  to  at  least  eight 
or  nine  months  is  the  most  direct  course,  but  probably 
could  not  be  carried,  following  so  closely  the  recent  ex- 
tension from  four  to  six  months.  County  boards  can, 
however,  be  empowered  to  assume  full  financial  respon- 
sibihty  for  the  schoolhouses  and  school  equipment,  and  the 
state  can  throw  more  of  the  responsibility  for  a  six  months' 
term  on  the  counties,  using  state  funds  more  largely  to 
make  uniform  and  extend  the  school  term.  The  further 
creation  of  special  tax  districts  can  be  stopped  and  their 
present  powers  limited,  and  all  can  join  in  developing 
sentiment  for  county-wide  additional  special  school  taxes 
and  schoolhouse  bond  issues.  Otherwise  there  will  con- 
tinue to  exist  side  by  side  a  quasi-county  system  and  a 
close  and  exclusive  district  system,  with  glaring  inequal- 
ities. 

We  have  not  only  failed  to  develop  the  financial  and 
hence  the  educational  possibilities  of  a  county  school 
system,  but  have  also  failed  to  develop  the  progressive 
leadership  needed  to  operate  such  a  system  successfully. 
In  the  first  place,  our  county  boards  of  education  have 
not  commanded  the  full  confidence  of  the  people.  We 
have  experimented  ^vith  almost  every  known  method  of 
selecting  them,  except  selection  by  the  qualified  voters 
of  the  county  at  separate,  non-partisan  elections. i  For 
example,  our  county  commissioners  have  at  two  different 
times  acted  as  an  ex  officio  board  of  education;  at  one 
time  county  boards  of  education  were  appointed  by  the 

ustices  of  the  peace  and  county  commissioners;  at  another, 
Jby  the  general  assembly,  and  now  by  the  general  assembly 

on  nomination  at  party  primaries.    None  of  these  methods 

lAt  such  elections,  nominations  are  by  petition,  the  names  of  the  nominees  are 
entered  alphabetically  on  non-partisan  tickets,  and  the  terms  are  of  such  length 
and  expire  at  such  different  times  as  to  guarantee  stability  and  continuity  of  policy. 


Farm  Life  School — Craven  County 


Consolidated  School— Wilson  Countt 


TEACHERS'  HOMES— LARGE  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


Limitations  and  Conflicting  Developments   101 

provides  for  the  exercise  by  the  people  of  a  direct  voice 
in  the  management  of  their  schools  or  affords  an  adequate 
safeguard  against  partisan  control. 

Again,  in  the  exercise  of  leadership  and  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  schools,  county  boards  of  education  have 
been  seriously  handicapped  by  their  inability  to  provide 
proper  administrative  and  supervisory  staffs.  Up  to 
1903  three  dollars  per  day  was  the  maximum  salary 
allowed  by  law  to  county  superintendents.  Between 
1903  and  1917  the  wealthier  counties  were  free  to  employ 
county  superintendents  and  to  fix  their  salaries,  but  the 
poorer  counties,  those  having  a  school  fund  of  less  than 
$15,000^numbering  65  in  1903 — were  limited  to  a  max- 
imum of  S600 .  In  neither  instance  were  provisions 
made  for  supervisors.  While  the  average  salary  of  county 
superintendents  rose  gradually  from  $796  in  1910  to 
SI, 298  in  1918,  only  with  the  passage  of  the  new  budget 
law  of  1919,  when  the  state  assumed  half  and  in  certain 
instances  more  than  half,  of  their  salaries,  has  even  the 
highest  of  these  salaries  been  attractive  to  trained  and 
experienced  men. 

Inasmuch  as  the  state  until  recently  placed  so  little 
emphasis  on  effective  administration  and  supervision, 
county  boards  of  education  generally  looked  upon  su- 
pervision as  unnecessary  and  took  only  a  limited  view  of 
the  field  and  function  of  the  county  superintendent. 
His  duties  as  they  conceived  of  them  were  chiefly  clerical. 
Accordingly,  a  preacher,  a  lawyer,  a  doctor,  a  real  estate 
agent,  a  merchant,  a  farmer,  in  fact,  anyone  fairly  well 
educated  and  with  a  little  free  time  to  dispose  of  was 
acceptable.  As  late  as  1912  half  of  the  county  super- 
intendents gave  only  part  time  to  the  schools,  and  even 
now  17  counties  have  part-time  superintendents. 

Moreover,  the  office  has  until  lately  been  exposed  to 
ever}^  kind  of  personal  and  political  influence.  County 
superintendents  were  not   required  until   1917  to  hold 


102         Public  Education  ix  Xorth  Carolina 

certificates.  Prior  thereto  good  moral  character  and 
two  years'  experience  as  a  teacher  at  some  time  in  the 
candidate's  career  were  the  onty  requirements  imposed. 
In  consequence,  not  more  than  40  of  the  100  county  su- 
perintendents now  in  office  can  possibly  be  said  to  be 
trained  for  their  work.  Twenty  have  not  had  the  equiv- 
alent of  high  school  education,  and  the  remaining  40 
only  from  one  to  two  years  in  college. 

On  the  other  hand,  few  count}'  boards  emploj'  super- 
visors to  assist  the  county  superintendent.  Johnson 
County  was  the  first  to  engage  one,  in  1912.  Up  to  1919 
25  other  counties  have  employed  super\nsors  for  one  or 
more  years,  and  in  1919  14  counties  were  emplojdng  them. 
Supervision  is  not  an  established  policy;  a  county  may 
have  it  this  year  and  abandon  it  next.  The  facts  are, 
well  qualified  super\nsors  are  not  available,  county  boards 
do  not  appreciate  their  value,  and,  not  being  directly 
authorized  to  employ  them,  they  hesitate  to  incur  the 
additional  expense.  The  state  superintendent  received 
in  1919  a  small  fund  ^ath  which  he  has  been  able  to  co- 
operate -^dth  a  few  counties — some  23 — in  providing 
supervisory  officers,  the  state  pajdng  one-half  the  salary; 
but  if  supervision  is  to  become  general  and  effective 
within  the  immediate  future,  the  state  will  have  to  bear 
a  considerable  part  of  the  cost  in  all  counties. 

County  boards  of  education  thus  have  as  their  executive 
officers  superintendents  who  in  many  instances  know 
little  more  about  the  schools  than  the  board  members 
themselves,  and,  with  the  exceptions  cited,  are  wdthout 
supervisors.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  adminis- 
tration and  supervision  of  the  schools  is  necessarily  weak, 
and  the  boards  themselves,  wdthout  professional  guidance 
and  stimulation,  not  infrequently  do  no  more  than  the 
people  demand,  instead  of  pressing,  as  a  county  board 
of  education  should,  the  claims  of  the  schools  to  the  last 
point  the  people  will  accept. 


Limitations  and  Conflicting  Developments     103 

To  summarize,  we  have  a  so-called  county  school  system, 
but  we  are  far  from  realizing  its  financial  and  educational 
possibilities.  This  is  due  to  constitutional  and  statutory 
limitations,  to  the  development  of  an  unusual  number 
of  small  city  and  special  tax  districts,  and  to  a  lack  of 
supporting  public  sentiment.  A  constiti-tional  amend- 
ment increasing  the  compulsory  school  year  to  eight  or 
nine  months  would  eliminate  most  of  the  hindrances  to 
the  full  development  of  a  county  system.  If  such  an 
amendment  is  not  practicable,  then  appropriate  legisla- 
tion should  stop  the  formation  of  special  tax  districts, 
reduce  the  number  of  specially  chartered  districts,  pro- 
vide a  single  unified  code  for  large  cities,  and  throw  a 
larger  proportion  of  the  burden  of  a  six  months'  school 
on  the  counties  and  cities.  The  county  should  also 
assume  a  larger  responsibility  especiallj^  for  school  build- 
ings, and  effort  should  be  concentrated  on  developing 
sentiment  for  county-wide  additional  special  taxes  and 
bond  issues.  The  people  should  obtain  a  more  direct 
voice  in  the  control  of  their  schools,  and  school  manage- 
ment should  be  freed  from  partisan  politics.  Finally, 
the  state  should  co-operate  more  generously  in  providing 
boards  of  education  with  adequate  and  appropriately 
trained  administrative  and  supervisory  staffs. 


PART  III 

THE  WAY  OUT 

CHAPTERS  Vni-X 


[1051 


VIII.     BETTER  ADMINISTRATION 

THE  WAY  to  improve  our  schools  is  clearly  through 
better    administration,     better    trained      teachers, 
and    better    financial    support.        Each    of    these 
topics  will  be  considered  in  turn. 

Improved  State  Administration 

At  the  head  of  the  public  school  system  stands  the 
state  board  of  education,  including  among  its  members 
the  state   superintendent. 

An  ex  officio  state  board  of  education,  as  has  been 
pointed  out,  is  not  the  approved  type  of  board.  For 
this  reason  the  constitution  should  be  amended  so  as 
to  permit  the  general  assembly  to  create  a  lay  board 
composed  of  five  or  seven  citizens,  to  be  appointed  by 
the  governor  for  prolonged  terms,  expiring  at  different 
times,  so  as  to  guarantee  stabihty  and  continuity  of 
educational  poHcies. 

In  the  meantime,  the  present  board  should  be  made 
responsible  for  the  general  administration  of  the  entire 
public  school  system.  All  other  state  boards  should  be 
dispensed  with — boards,  for  example,  such  as  the  state 
board  of  vocational  education,  the  commission  on  instruc- 
tion in  agriculture,  manual  training,  and  home  economics, 
the  state  board  of  examiners  and  institute  conductors, 
the  state  textbook  sub-commission,  and  in  certain  in- 
stances state  normal  school  boards,  such,  for  example, 
as  the  board  of  the  CuUowhee  Normal  and  Industrial 
School,  of  the  Appalachian  Training  School,  of  the 
Cherokee  Indian  Normal  S--hool,  and  the  boards  of  the 
three  state  normal  schools  for  Negroes.  On  the  abolition 
of  these  agencies,  the  state  board  will  assume  the  respon- 
sibility, through  its  executive  oflacer,  the  state  superin- 

[107] 


108  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

tendent,  for  formulating  rules  and  regulations  affecting 
the  organization  and  management  of  the  public  schools, 
the  erection  of  school  b^jildings,  the  certification  of 
teachers,  the  management  of  the  minor  normal  schools 
and  of  teacher  training  in  general;  that  is,  the  state 
board  will  then  exercise,  through  the  state  superintendent, 
the  powers  usually  and  properly  so  exercised. 

In  a  soundh^  organized  educational  system,  the  lay 
board,  above  mentioned,  selects  its  executive  officer, 
known  as  the  state  superintendent,  and  fixes  his  salary. 
This  official  advises  the  board  on  technical  matters, 
represents  it  in  dealing  with  the  public,  the  legislature, 
and  all  parts  of  the  school  system,  and  is  responsible  for 
carrying  out  policies  determined  by  the  board.  The 
present  state  board,  however,  does  not  pbssess  an  execu- 
tive officer  in  this  sense  of  the  term.  The  state  super- 
intendent is  chosen  by  the  people,  to  whom  he  is  respon- 
sible, and  though,  in  effect,  he  is  the  executive  of  the 
state  board,  his  relation  to  it  has  not  been  conceived 
from  that  point  of  view.  The  law  should  therefore  be 
modified  in  this  respect;  in  addition,  no  time  should  be 
lost  in  amending  the  constitution  so  as  to  permit  the 
appointment  of  the  state  superintendent  by  the  lay 
board  of  education  above  described.  This  amendment 
will  not  only  tend  to  remove  the  office  from  politics,  but 
will  also  place  the  board  and  its  executive  officer  in  a 
correct  relation  to  each  other. 

A  state  superintendent  can  not  personally  perform  all 
the  duties  that  fall  to  his  lot  as  executive  officer  of  a  state 
board  of  education.  To  be  effective,  he  must  be  pro- 
vided with  a  competent  clerical  and  professional  staff. 
Too  often  important  duties  are  imposed  on  him  and  no 
provision  made  for  performing  them.  A  single  example 
will  illustrate  what  has  re'peatedly  happened.  Since 
1868,  the  state  superintendent  has  been  authorized  to 
approve  the  plans  for  all  schoolbouses  erected  by  county 


Better  Administration  109 

boards  of  education,  and  since  1903  county  boards  of 
education  have  been  forbidden  to  expend  public  money 
on  schoolhouses  not  built  according  to  plans  so  approved. 
The  state  superintendent  has,  however,  never  been  in 
position  to  enforce  this  excellent  law;  he  has  never  been 
able  to  do  much  more  than,  at  long  intervals,  to  publish 
and  distribute  acceptable  plans.  No  one  knows  how 
much  money  has  been  spent  on  rural  schoolhouses  dur- 
ing the  last  sixty  years.  Their  present  value  is  approxi- 
mately S6,000,000,  a  considerable  part  of  which  has 
doubtless  been  wasted  or  ineffectually  spent  because  of 
the  lack  of  proper  supervision  ^ 

State  superintendents  are  thus  frequently  left  without 
appropriate  stiffs,  doubtless  partly  because  the  peopld 
are  unable  to  appreciate  the  mag-nitude  of  their  task 
and  partly  because  the  people  do  not  understand  their 
supervisory  function.  The  superintendent's  staff  should 
care  for  the  clerical  details  of  the  office,  such  as  corres- 
pondence and  the  collection  and  tabulation  of  data 
regarding  enrollment,  attendance,  and  expenditures; 
it  should  see  that  the  laws  and  rules  and  regulations  of 
the  state  board  of  education  are  observed,  that  the 
conditions  for  participating  in  the  state  school  fund  and 
in  special  funds  and  appropriations,  such  as  the  equal- 
ization, building  loan,  and  Smith-Hughes  fmids,  are 
met;  it  should  study  the  work  and  the  needs  of  the  schools, 
and  publish  reports  thereon;  it  should  also  labor  with 
the  people  directly,  explaining  the  educational  policies 
and  plans  of  the  state,  helping  to  arouse  local  public 
sentiment,  to  effect  consolidations  and  to  plan  buildings 
and  grounds,  advising  with  superintendents  and  teachers 
with  regard  to  the  organization  of  their  schools,  courses 
of  study,  classification  of  pupils,  methods  of  teaching— 


iThe  general  assembly  in  August,  1920,  wisely  appropriated  SIO.OOO  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  division  of  schoolhouse  planning  in  the  office  of  the  state  superintend- 
ent. 


110         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

in  short,  serving  the  people  at  all  times  and  in  all  ways 
in  the  interest  of  better  schools. 

There  is  a  growing  appreciation  of  the  value  of  such 
centrally  directed  administrative  service.  For  example, 
provision  was  made  in  1901  for  a  supervisor  of  colored 
normal  schools.  ]More  recently,  when  school  extension 
work,  instruction  for  adult  illiterates,  and  vocational 
education  were  inaugurated,  a  director  was  provided  in 
each  instance.  However,  the  state  superintendent  appre- 
ciated the  imperative  need  of  professional  assistance 
long  before  the  state  was  persuaded  of  its  importance. 
From  private  agencies  he  obtained  funds  which  enabled 
him  to  appoint  a  part-time  high  school  supervisor  in  1907, 
a  white  rural  school  supervisor  in  1910,  and  a  colored 
rural  school  agent  in  1914.  These  agencies  still  bear 
the  entire  expense  of  maintaining  these  supervisors, 
including  their  salaries,  traveling  expenses,  and  steno- 
graphic help.  Their  work  has  been  invaluable  and  is 
now  well  established;  its  importance  is  generally  recog- 
nized; the  time  has  come  when  the  state  should  and  can 
assume  financial  responsibility  for  it. 

The  staff  required  by  a  state  department  of  education 
varies  with  the  size  of  the  system,  its  organization,  and 
stage  of  development.  To  equip'  properly  our  state 
department  of  education  for  the  great  work  that  lies 
immediately  before  it  would  require  approximately  the 
folloAA-ing  stenographic,  clerical,  and  professional  assist- 
ants: 

1.  Office  of  state  superintendent,  having,  besides  the 
state  superintendent,  a  secretary,  a  stenographer,  and 
supply  clerk. 

2.  Division  of  schoolhouse  planning,  with  a  director, 
one  assistant,  two  draftsmen,  and  a  stenographer. 

3.  Division  of  teachers'  certificates,  with  a  director, 
two  assistants,  three  clerks,  two  stenographers,  and 
temporary  readers. 


Better   Administration  HI 

4.  Division  of  supervision,  with  at  least  five  supervisors 
and  three  stenographers,  in  charge  of: 

a.  White  elementary  schools; 

b.  Colored  elementary  schools; 

c.  High  schools; 

d.  Vocational  instruction; 

e.  Minor    normal    schools    and     teacher    training; 

f.  Instruction  of  adult  illiterates. 

5.  Division  of  school  extension  work,  with  a  director, 
two  assistants,   and   a  stenographer. 

6.  Division  of  state  school  funds  and  school  records, 
with  a  director,  three  assistants,  four  clerks,  and  one 
stenographer,  in  charge  of: 

a.  School  funds,  budgets,  and  accounting; 

b.  School  records  and  reports; 

c.  School  tests  and  measurements. 

The  total  expenditure  for  general  administration  in 
1918-1919,  exclusive  of  postage  and  printing,  was  $43,- 
648.  Of  this  the  state  paid  S33,103,  and  outside 
agencies  $10,545.  The  cost  of  a  department  such  as 
that  outlined  above  would  approximate  $125,000  an- 
nually, representing  an  administrative  cost  of  between 
1  and  2  per  cent  on  total  school  expenditures.  No  successful 
business  operates  with  anything  like  so  small  an  overhead 
charge.  To  save  on  administration  is  to  waste  in  the 
end,  for  good  administration  vitalizes  the  whole  system, 
and  secures  the  largest  return  on  all  other  expenditures. 
The  special  session  of  the  general  assembly  of  1920 
appropriated  $10,000  to  establish  a  division  of  school- 
house  planning  and  $5,000  for  the  better  supervision  of 
state  school  funds.  The  general  assembly  of  1921  should 
go  still  further,  and  that  of  1923  should  see  the  above 
program  well  toward  completion. 


112  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

Improved  County  Administration 

Better  county  administration  is  as  imperative  as  better 
state  administration,  for  the  state  can  not  and  ought 
not  to  administer  the  schools  directly.  At  present, 
few  county  boards  do  more  than  look  after  the  routine 
of  the  schools.  The  majority  of  the  county  superintend- 
ents are  without  proper  qualifications,  a  fifth  are  part- 
time  officers,  only  a  third  have  clerks,  and  23  have  at 
present  supervisors. 

The  first  step  in  elevating  county  boards  of  education 
to  a  position  of  influence  is  to  set  them  in  right  relation 
to  the  people  and  to  their  problems.  This  will  call  for  a 
change  in  the  present  method  of  electing  county  board 
members. 

The  second  step  is  to  provide  county  boards  with  com- 
petent executives  in  the  person  of  the  county  superin- 
tendent. The  office  of  county  superintendent  must  be 
placed  on  a  strictly  professional  basis,  that  is,  such  pro- 
fessional preparations  and  experience  should  be  required 
of  all  incumbents  and  future  aspirants  as  will  safeguard 
efficiency  and  eliminate  all  who  rely  for  appointment  on 
other  than  professional  qualifications.  The  office  must 
also  be  made  attractive.  Among  other  things,  the 
term  of  appointment  should  be  lengthened  to  at  least 
four  years  so  as  to  guarantee  permanency  and  allow 
time  to  demonstrate  ability  in  the  development  and  exe- 
cution of  policies,  and  the  salary  should  be  sufficient  to 
encourage  young  men  and  women  to  make  the  necessary 
preparation,  to  keep  them  contented  and  enthusiastic? 
and  hold  them  in  service.  The  equipment  of  the 
office  should  correspond  to  the  needs  of  the  work.  The 
counties  should  assume  all  necessary  expenses  incurred 
in  the  performance  of  professional  duties;  under  no 
circumstances  should  such  expenses  be  regarded  as  a  part 
of   the    superintendent's    salary,    and    proper    provision 


Statesville — Iredell  County 


Sanford— Lee  County 


NEW  TYPE  CITY  SCHOOLS 


Better  Administration  113 

should  be  made  for  clerical  details.  No  county  should 
have  less  than  one  stenographic  and  clerical  assistant, 
and  in  the  very  largest  counties  there  should  be  at  least 
two. 

In  the  15  counties  having  less  than  50  teachers,  white 
and  colored,  a  county  superintendent,  properly  provided 
with  office  help,  should  be  able  to  administer  the  schools 
effectively  if  one  supervisor  is .  provided  for  each  two 
such  counties.  In  the  22  counties  having  between  50 
and  75  teachers,  the  superintendent  should  have  at  least 
one  supervisor;  in  the  40  counties  having  between  75 
and  125  teachers,  at  least  two;  in  the  18  counties  having 
between  125  and  175  teachers,  at  least  three;  and  in  the 
5  counties  having  over  175  teachers,  at  least  four. 

The  cost  of  the  above  plan  would  doubtless  be  three 
times  the  present  expenditure,  or  approximately  $1,- 
000,000  annually,  but  this  expense  should  not  be 
borne  entirely  by  the  counties.  The  state  quite  properly 
undertook  in  1919  to  pay  half,  and  in  some  instances 
more  than  half,  the  salaries  of  all  county  superintend- 
ents, and  half  the  salary  of  one  supervisor  in  a  limited 
number  of  counties,  23  in  all.  State  school  funds  can  not 
be  used  to  better  advantage  than  in  procuring  good 
supervision  of  instruction.  The  state  should,  therefore, 
place  supervisors  on  the  same  basis  as  superintendents, 
paying  at  least  half,  and  when  necessary  even  more  than 
half,  the  salaries  of  supervisors,  thus  reducing  the  local 
expense  of  efficient  school  administration. 

However,  improvement  in  county  administration  will 
necessarily  be  slow.  Even  if  ample  funds  were  at  hand, 
properly  trained  county  superintendents  and  supervisors 
are  not  now  available  from  among  the  teachers  of  the 
state  and  it  would  be  impracticable  to  import  any  con- 
siderable number  from  the  outside.  Properly  qualified 
county  superintendents  and  supervisors  have  to  be 
educated,  and  this  will  take  time.     In  the  meanwhile, 


114        Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

the  employment  of  competent  and  adequate  clerical 
and  professional  staffs  should  be  made  mandatory  upon 
all  county  boards  of  education,  but  the  date  at  which  this 
mandatory  provision  shall  take  effect  in  so  far  as  it  has 
to  do  ^vith  the  employment  of  supervisors,  should  be 
left  to  the  discretion  and  recommendation  of  the  state 
board  of  education.  The  position  of  county  superintend- 
ent as  well  as  that  of  supervisor  should  be  rendered  secure 
and  attractive,  and  their  selection  should  be  subject  to 
the  approval  of  the  state  superintendent.  Finally, 
every  means  should  be  employed — even  to  the  county 
board's  paying  the  school  expenses  of  one  or  more  of  its 
teachers— to  encourage  young  men  and  women  of  promise 
to  prepare  for  these  important  fields  of  service.  Com- 
petent county  superintendents  should  come  first,  for  it 
is  futile  to  introduce  supervision  unless  the  superintend- 
ent is  efficient  and  appreciative. 

Improved  City  Administration 
There  is  equal  need  of  improved  city  administration. 
For  the  small  specially  chartered  districts,  this  will  be 
achieved  by  placing  them  under  county  management, 
thus  securing  for  them,  as  has  been  pointed  out  above, 
a  higher  type  of  administration  and  supervision  than  they 
can  afford  as  long  as  they  operate  independently. 

In  the  larger  cities,  the  problem  of  better  administra- 
tion is  not  so  much  a  question  of  better  superintendents 
as  a  question  of  better  organization  and  better  working 
conditions.  The  superintendents  of  the  larger  cities 
are  men  of  the  highest  personal  qualities  and  professional 
spirit,  although  in  a  few  instances  they  lack  preparation 
and  experience;  summer  work  at  a  good  university  will 
go  far  to  correct  these  defects.  Proper  organization  and 
working  conditions  can  best  be  secured  through  repealing 
the  thousand  and  one  special  city  school  laws,  and  enact- 
ing, instead,  a  single,  unified  code  for  all  cities. 


Better  Administration  115 

This  code  should  provide,  on  the  one  hand,  for  the 
election  of  city  school  board  members  at  large  at  a 
separate,  non-partisan  school  election  with  nomination 
by  petition,  the  names  of  the  candidates  being  entered 
alphabetically  on  the  non-partisan  ballot.  It  should 
define  the  duties  and  powers  of  the  board  of  education, 
the  duties  and  powers  of  the  superintendent,  the  status 
of  teachers,  etc. — all  in  harmony  with  the  provisions 
governing  the  general  state  system. 

To  protect  the  interests  of  the  state  and  to  make  sure 
that  the  funds  available  for  school  purposes  are  sufficient 
to  guarantee  proper  administration  and  supervision 
and  the  highest  type  of  public  schools,  the  code  should 
lay  down  certain  minimum  requirements  that  cities 
must  meet  and  fulfill  in  order  to  operate  as  city  school 
districts.  For  example,  the  buildings,  grounds,  and 
equipment  should  conform  to  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  state  board  of  education;  an  elementary  school  of 
at  least  seven  grades  and  a  standard  four  year  high  school 
should  be  maintained;  a  superintendent,  and,  in  cities 
having,  more  than  30  teachers,  at  least  one  supervisor, 
holding  the  highest  grade  of  superintendent's  and  super- 
visor's certificates,  should  be  employed,  as  well  as  a  high 
school  principal,  and  an  elementary  school  principal 
for  each  elementary  school  of  the  usual  size;  all  new  high 
school  teachers  should  hold  the  highest  grade  of  high  school 
teacher's  certificate,  and  all  new  elementary  teachers, 
at  least  a  "C"  grade  elementary  teacher's  certificate; 
city  elementary  and  high  schools  should  be  in  session 
not  less  than  180  days  annually,  etc. 

While  city  school  districts  would  be  free  to  exceed 
these  minimum  requirements  and  to  develop  along  lines 
of  local  interest,  the  proposed  code  would  give  unity  and 
strength  to  their  systems. 


92468 — 9 


IX.     BETTER  TRAIINED  TEACHERS 

IMPROVED  state,  county,  and  city  administration 
will  secure  an  economical  and  efficient  management 
of  the  schools,  but  the  efforts  of  superintendents 
and  supervisors  to  improve  classroom  conditions  will 
be  ineffective  unless  they  have  experienced  and  v/ell 
trained  teachers  as  co-workers.  Our  teachers,  as  we 
have  seen,  are  not  well  trained ;  they  are  so  lacking  in 
preparation  that,  whatever  the  other  needs  of  the  schools, 
the  need  of  efficient  teachers  is  paramount. 

The  way  to  get  and  hold  well  trained  teachers  is  simple. 
Their  tenure  must  be  secure,  their  salaries  attractive, 
and  appropriate  teacher  training  institutions  must  be 
readily  accessible. 

The  general  assembly  of  1919  and  the  special  session 
of  1920,  as  stated  before,  materially  increased  the  pay 
of  teachers,  and  the  new  certification  system  guarantees 
the  higher  salaries  to  the  teachers  who  are  best  prepared. 
These  higher  salaries  and  the  new  certification  'scheme 
will  hearten  the  well  trained  teachers  now  in  service,  but 
the  salaries  offered  are  not  yet  sufficient  to  induce  the 
ill  prepared  to  get  the  additional  training  required  for 
high  grade  certificates,  or  to  induce  sufficiently  large 
numbers  of  young  people  to  qualify  themselves  in  the 
future.    It  is  still  the  unprepared  who  are  really  favored. 

For  example,  an  inexperienced  high  school  graduate, 
with  six  weeks  of  professional  preparation  at  a  summer 
school,  is  paid  S65  per  month,  with  So  per  month  increase 
each  year  after  the  first  for  four  years.  Hence,  a  high 
school  graduate  working  eight  months  a  year  will  earn 
in  five  years  a  total  of  $3,000.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
graduate  of  a  standard  normal  school,  that  is,  a  graduate 
of  a   high  school   who   has  completed    successfully  two 

1116] 


Better  Trained  Teachers  117 

years'  work  in  a  normal  school,  receives  an  initial  salary 
of  S90  per  month,  ^dth  So  per  month  increase  each  year 
after  the  first  for  four  j^ears.  At  these  rates,  for  eight 
months  a  year,  the  normal  school  graduate  ■will  earn  in 
five  years — two  j^ears  in  normal  school  and  three  years 
in  teaching— a  total  of  82,280.  Deducting  S700,  the 
estimated  cost  of  a  standard  normal  school  education, 
the  normal  school  graduate  at  the  end  of  five  years  is 
SI, 420  poorer  financially  by  reason  of  having  prepared 
herself  for  teaching  than  if  she  had  entered  the  work 
directly  from  the  high  school,  and  she  is  approximate!}^ 
S820  poorer  financially  even  if  S300  a  year  is  allowed 
the  high  school  graduate  for  maintenance  during  the 
two  years  the  normal  school  graduate  is  in  school.  Nor 
■vnW  the  normal  school  graduate  ordinarilj^  make  up  this 
loss,  for  only  a  small  proportion  of  teachers  remain  in  the 
schools  more  than  five  or  six  j^ears.  The  financial  dis- 
parit}^  between  the  high  school  graduate  and  the  college 
graduate  is  even  greater.  The  salaries  of  the  well  trained 
should  be  raised  at  least  sufficiently  to  place  them  on  a 
financial  parity  vdih  the  untrained.  Other\\'ise,  the  schools 
will  remain  in  unskilled  hands. 

The  present  salary  schedule  has  other  discouraging 
aspects.  The  proposed  salaries  are  computed,  for  example, 
on  a  monthly  basis.  Accordingly,  the  salary  received 
will  vary  with  the  length  of  the  school  term,  which  may 
be  as  little  as  six  months  or  as  much  as  ten  months.  With 
such  uncertainty  as  to  salary,  young  people  can  not  be 
expected  to  prepare  themselves  thoroughh^  for  teaching, 
nor  will  well  trained  teachers  endure  these  conditions. 
Such  teachers  must  be  guaranteed  at  least  an  annual 
minimum  wage.  This  is  onlj^  just,  for  they  should  not 
be  expected  to  teach  school  six  months  and  then  be  forced 
to  spend  the  other  six  months  in  a  factory  or  store  in 
order  to  piece  out  a  precarious  living.  To  place  the 
salaries  of  all  professionally  trained  teachers,  that   is, 


118  Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

those  holding  standard  state  certificates,  on  an  annual 
basis  will,  of  course,  put  the  short  term  school  at  a  dis- 
advantage. However,  when  rural  school  authorities 
find  that  they  must  pay  a  well  trained  teacher  as  much 
for  a  six  months'  school  as  for  a  nine  months'  school, 
the  natural  tendency  will  be  to  lengthen  the  rural  school 
term.  Unless  this  is  done,  we  can  not  expect  to  have 
well  trained  rural  teachers  or  good  rural  schools. 

Improved  Teacher  Training  Facilities 

Next  to  good  salaries  and  a  good  certification  system, 
the  most  important  factor  in  securing  well  trained 
teachers  is  adequate  and  appropriate  teacher  training 
facilities.  Our  teacher  training  facilities  are,  as  we  have 
seen,  inadequate.  We  should  be  able  to  train,  to  the 
extent  needed,  every  type  of  superintendent,  supervisor, 
principal,  and  teacher  required  by  the  public  schools. 
To  afford  such  a  range  and  variety  of  training,  existing 
institutions  will  need  to  be  enlarged  and  strengthened, 
new  ones  established,  and,  in  order  that  unnecessary 
overlapping  and  duplication  may  be  avoided,  the  specific 
work  to  be  undertaken  by  each  will  have  to  be  clearly 
defined. 

Among  the  existing  teacher  training  institutions,  the 
State  University  is  the  oldest.  Courses  for  teachers 
were  established  there  in  1877,  both  in  regular  term  and 
in  summer.  The  summer  school  has  always  been  well 
attended,  particularly  in  recent  years;  the  enrollment 
in  1920  was  1,200.  The  attendance  on  educational  courses 
in  the  regular  term  has  not  been  so  large,  and  the  grad- 
uates have  been  relatively  few  in  number.  There  were, 
in  1917-1918,  altogether  86  of  the  University's  graduates, 
including  those  from  other  departments,  in  public  school 
work;  25  were  in  rural  schools,  31  in  city  schools,  19 
were  county  superintendents,  and  11  city  superintendents. 
However,   the  service  of  the  University  to   the  public 


Better  TRAmED  Teachers  119 

schools  can  not  be  measured  by  the  number  of  teachers 
it  has  turned  out.  Its  graduates  have  always  exercised 
an  influence  out  of  proportion  to  their  number. 

The  commanding  position  of  the  University  among 
the  schools  of  the  state,  the  character  of  its  student 
body,  the  probability  that  a  larger  proportion  of  its 
graduates  will,  in  the  future,  become  teachers,  the  past 
service  of  its  graduates — all  favor  the  development  at 
the  University  of  a  school  of  education  comparable  to 
similar  schools  elsewhere,  and  the  general  assembly 
is  under  obligation  to  develop  such  a  department. 

The  University  has  quite  properly  never  attempted 
to  furnish  regular  courses  for  elementary  teachers,  and 
should  not  do  so  in  the  future.  Its  efforts  should  be 
concentrated  entirely  on  the  preparation  of  high  school 
teachers  and  principals,  elementary  principals  and 
supervisors — provided  women  are  admitted  to  the  Uni- 
versity in  numbers — and  on  the  training  of  county  and 
city  superintendents.  There  should  also  be  further 
developed,  as  a  part  of  the  school  of  education,  an  exten- 
sion division,  equipped  to  make  special  studies,  to  test 
the  achievements  of  pupils,  and  to  advise  with  school 
officials  regarding  policies  and  plans. 

The  North  Carolina  College  for  Women,  established 
in  1891,  is  the  only  state  institution  of  college  grade  open 
to  women  1.  It  has  a  dual  function,  offering  college  oppor- 
tunities to  women,  .  and  training  teachers.  Neverthe- 
less, all  graduates,  except  those  who  pay  tuition,  are 
required  to  teach  at  least  two  years.  There  were,  in 
1917-1918,  303  graduates  in  service. 

The  efforts  of  the  Women's  College  in  its  teacher 
training  work  have  been  concentrated  thus  far  chiefly 
on  the  preparation  of  elementary  and  high  school  teach- 
ers.    The  demands  for  specialized  teacher  training  are 


'The  State  University  only  recently  opened  its  doors  to  women,  in    limited 
numbers. 


120         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

now  increasingly  urgent.  The  public  schools  require, 
to  an  extent  formerly  unkno-\A-n,  competent  elementar}'- 
and  high  school  principals,  special  teachers,  and  well 
trained  supervisors,  and  women  in  increasing  numbers 
are  aspiring  to  and  being  appointed  to  these  positions. 
The  North  Carolina  College  for  Women  should  be 
able  to  meet  these  pressing  demands;  but  to  offer  proper 
courses  for  elementary  teachers — probably  both  a  two 
year  and  a  four  year  course — strong  courses  for  high  school 
teachers,  for  teachers  of  the  household  and  the  fine  arts, 
of  pubhc  school  music  and  physical  education,  for  ele- 
mentary and  high  school  principals,  and  for  elementary 
supervisors,  Tvill  call  for  increased  support  in  the  course 
of  a  reasonable  period.  It  will  be  necessary,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  enlarge  the  academic  faculty,  if  it  is  to  give 
the  requisite  academic  instruction,  and,  on  the  other, 
to  enlarge,  the  professional  faculty,  and  improve  the 
facilities  for  practice  teaching.  To  accompUsh  this 
larger  work  as  economically  as  possible,  particularly 
the  training  of  special  teachers  and  of  elementary  and 
high  school  principals  and  supervisors,  the  student  body 
should  be  enlarged,  and  additional  dormitories  and  class- 
rooms ^-ill  have  to  be  provided  accordingly. 

The  East  Carolina  Teachers  Training  School,  estab- 
lished in  1907,  was  founded  for  the  sole  purpose  of  train- 
ing elementary  teachers.  This  purpose  has  been  kept 
constantly  in  mind  and  well  fulfilled.  Its  professional 
course  covers  two  years  based  on  graduation  from  a  four 
year  high  school.  When  the  new  dormitory  is  completed 
it  will  have  capacity  for  300  students;  it  had,  in  1917- 
1918,  159  graduates  in  the  field. 

In  view  of  the  gro^udng  demand  for  well  trained  ele- 
mentary school  principals  and  supervisors,  and  the 
further  fact  that  the  present  two  year  course  no  longer 
quahfies  its  graduates,  under  the  new  certification 
scheme,  for  the  highest  grade   of  elementary  teacher's 


Better  Trained  Teachers  121 

certificate,  the  time  has  undoubtedly  come  when  the 
East  CaroHna  Teachers  Training  School  should  be 
raised  in  rank  so  that  it  raay  offer  four  year  as  well  as 
two  year  professional  courses.  Its  work,  however,  should 
still  be  limited  to  the  elementarj'  school  field,  that  is, 
to  the  training  of  elementan^  school  teachers,  principals, 
and  supervisors.  That  this  m.Siy  be  done  economically, 
and  the  teacher  training  facilities  of  the  state  increased, 
the  capaoit}^  of  the  school  should  be  doubled. 

If  the  school  of  education  at  the  State  University,  the 
North  Carolina  College  for  Women,  and  the  East  Caro- 
lina Teachers  Training  School  are  enlarged  and  their 
work  developed  as  we  have  indicated,  the  state  would 
have  three  teacher  training  institutions  of  high  order 
admitting  only  graduates  of  standard  four  year  high 
schools.  These  three  institutions  thus  enlarged  and 
developed  would,  along  wdth  the  private  colleges,  be  able 
to  train  the  city  and  county  superintendents,  the  super- 
visors, the  elementary  and  high  school  principals,  and 
the  high  school  teachers  needed  in  the  schools  of  the 
state.  They  would  also  be  able  to  turn  out  annually 
probably  400  well  trained  elementary  teachers  having 
had  either  two  or  four  year  courses.  While  400  well 
trained  elementary  teachers  are  only  a  fifth  of  the  new 
white  elementary  teachers  required  annualty,  it  would 
nevertheless  be  futile  at  this  time  to  establish  additional 
teacher  training  institutions  requiring  for  admission 
graduation  from  standard  four  year  high  schools,  for 
probably  the  total  number  of  graduates  from  standard 
four  year  high  schools  does  not  now  exceed  1,800  annually,^ 
and  the  three  state  institutions  already  considered,  along 
with  the  private  colleges  offering  courses  in  education, 
can  for  some  years  probably  care  for  all  of  these  who  seek 


'There  were,  in  1917-1918,  225  public  high  schools  attempting    four  year  courses, 
but  only  104  of  these  at  most  could  be  called  standard  high  schools. 


122        Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

to  prepare  for  teaching,.  Such  other  teacher  training 
institutions  as  the  state  should  maintain  for  the  proper 
preparation  of  the  remaining  1,600  white  elementary- 
teachers  must  for  the  present  necessarily  be  of  lower 
grade,  that  is,  admit  students  who  have  had  less  than 
a  standard  four  year  high  school  course. 

The  Appalachian  Training  School  and  the  CuUowhee 
Normal  and  Industrial  School  are  practically  schools 
of  this  non-standard  type.  The  Appalachian  Training 
School  has  done  invaluable  work  for  the  surrounding 
sections,  but  it  is  not  a  normal  school  in  the  accepted 
sense  of  the  term;  it  is  rather  a  regional  high  school, 
doing  teacher  training  incidentally.  The  same  is  true  of 
Cullowhee,  although  Cullowhee  has  recently  attempted  to 
develop  a  two  year  teacher  training  course  beyond  the 
high  school.  The  impossibility  of  developing  such  a 
course  is  apparent  when  account  is  taken  of  the  fact 
that  there  are  only  three  counties — Cherokee,  Haywood, 
and  Buncombe — in  the  entire  mountain  region  that 
maintain  standard  high  schools.  Boone  had  in  1917- 
1918  43  former  students  teaching,  and  Cullowhee,  75. 

However  valuable  these  two  schools  have  been  as 
regional  high  schools,  the  time  has  come  for  a  reorganiza- 
tion of  their  work.  Henceforth  their  energies  should  be 
devoted  entirely  to  training  elementary  teachers,  leaving 
all  high  school  instruction,  as  such,  to  high  schools  that 
should  be  established  in  the  mountain  sections.  These 
schools  should  be  modified  to  conform  to  the  type  of 
normal  school  common  a  decade  ago  and  still  found  in 
the  Middle  West.  That  is,  they  should  admit  students 
who  have  completed  the  seventh  grade  of  the  elementary 
school  and  graduates  of  non-standard  high  schools,  and 
give  them  a  two,  three,  or  four  year  course  planned  to 
meet  the  needs  of  elementary  teachers.  No  graduates 
from  standard  four  year  high  schools  should  be  admitted; 
such  graduates  should  go  to  Chapel  Hill,  to  Greensboro, 


Hanes  School — Forsyth  Cocntt 


Cornelius  Harnett  School — Wilmington 


SCHOOL  PLAYGROUNDS 


Better   Trained  Teachers  123 

or  to  Greenville,  or  to  private  colleges  offering  courses 
in  education.  On  the  other  hand,  these  minor  normal 
schools  should  not  be  a  blind  alley;  the  way  should  be 
open  for  their  graduates  to  enter  without  loss  the  higher 
institutions  of  the  state,  both  public  and  private.  Both 
schools  are  well  located  to  serve  their  respective  sections, 
and,  if  properly  developed  and  equipped,  should  grad- 
uate at  least  100  elementary  teachers  a  year. 

This  would  still  leave  1,500  of  the  2,000  white  teachers 
required  annually  unprovided  for.  How  are  they  to  be 
trained?  Among  the  immediate  means  available  is  the 
further  extension  of  county  summer  schools  and  of  high 
school  training  departments.  County  summer  schools 
are  valuable  in  reaching  young  people  ^dthout  high  school 
advantages  who  are  teaching  for  the  first  or  second  time, 
and  who  would  otherwise  ordinarily  enter  the  classroom 
without  any  special  preparation.  High  school  training 
departments,  on  the  other  hand,  reach  tenth  and  eleventh 
grade  high  school  students.  The  work  of  such  depart- 
ments generally  covers  two  years  and  is  included  as  a 
part  of  the  last  two  years  of  the  regular  high  school 
course.  It  covers  a  thoroughgoing  study  of  most  of  the 
common  school  subjects  and  a  limited  amount  of  pro- 
fessional work,  including  observation  and  practice  teach- 
ing. Students  taking  such  a  course  usually  enter  the 
rural  schools  and  are  far  better  equipped  for  such  an 
undertaking  than  if  they  had  had  only  six  weeks  in  a 
standard  summer  school.  Indeed,  many  students  so 
prepared  develop  into  excellent  teachers.  Twenty-two 
states  now  maintain  high  school  training  departments, 
and  they  are  generally  recognized  as  one  of  the  most 
effective  and  cheapest  means  of  reaching  large  numbers 
of  prospective  rural  teachers i. 

'These  departments  have  been  especially  developed  in  Minnesota.  A  study  of 
their  work  has  been  recently  made  by  Dr.  Lotus  D.  Coffman.  entit.ed  "Teacher 
Training  Departments  in  Minnesota  High  Schools. "  A  copy  of  this  study  can  be 
obtained  gratis  on  application  to  the  General  Education  Board,  61  Broadway, 
New  York  City. 


124         Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

While  county  summer  schools  and  high  school  training 
departments  should  be  used  extensively  for  the  time 
being,  they  are  temporary  expedients.  The  final  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  of  elementary  teacher  training  is  the 
timeworn  recommendation  that  the  state  establish  ten 
additional  normal  schools  of  the  type  suggested  for 
Boone  and  Cullowhee,  with  the  understanding  that 
they  are  to  be  raised,  one  by  one,  to  standard  normal 
schools  whenever  this  step  is  justified  by  the  increased 
number  of  graduates  from  four  year  high  schools,  and 
by  the  demand  for  teachers  holding  the  higher  grades 
of  elementary  certificates.  A  single  normal  school  of 
the  type  contemplated,  accommodating  600  students 
and  training  150  teachers  a  year,  would  cost,  for  plant, 
probably  $500,000,  and  for  current  maintenance,  about 
$75,000. 

It  would  be  inadvisable  for  the  state  to  attempt  to 
establish  at  one  stroke  ten  such  schools,  but  we  believe 
that  the  general  assembly  of  1921  should  provide  for  at 
least  one.  Otherwise  there  will  be  no  state  teacher 
training  institution  east  of  the  mountains  to  care  for  the 
boys  and  girls  who  are  without  home  high  school  op- 
portunities, or  for  those  in  the  26  counties  having  no 
standard  high  schools,  either  city  or  rural,  or  for 
those  in  the  70  counties  having  no  standard  rural 
high  schools  who  have  completed  one,  two,  three^ 
and  four  year  courses  in  non-standard  high  schools  and 
who  expect  to  teach.  As  intimated,  this  school  should  be 
located  east  of  the  mountains,  and  should  prepare  teachers 
solely  for  the  rural  schools. 

What  was  said  above  about  the  Appalachian  Training 
School  and  the  Cullowhee  Normal  and  Industrial  School 
applies  with  equal  force  to  the  three  colored  normal 
schools.  The  school  at  Winston-Salem  is  the  best  of 
these,  but  even  Winston-Salem  has  much  to  do  before 
it  will  be  a  real  normal  school,  while   the  work  of  the 


Better  Trained  Teachers  125 

Elizabeth  City  and  Fayetteville  schools  should  be  com- 
pletely reorganized  and  redirected.  Colored  students 
desiring  a  high  school  education  should  enter  the  colored 
high  schools  of  the  cities,  or  the  county  training  schools, 
or  one  of  the  many  private  colored  schools;  the  efforts 
of  the  state  normal  schools  should  be  centered  on  the 
training  of  colored  elementary  teachers.  The  new 
dormitories  at  Elizabeth  City  and  Fayetteville,  and  the 
new  science  building  at  Winston-Salem  add  to  the 
respective  resources  of  these  schools,  but  their  facilities 
and  current  support  will  need  to  be  further  increased  if 
they  are  to  do  efficient  teacher  training  and  provide  any- 
thing like  the  350  new  colored  teachers  required  annually. 
As  a  temporary  assistance  to  this  end,  the  number  of 
colored  county  summer  schools  should  also  be  increased 
and  the  state  should  co-operate  actively  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  county  training  schools  now  maintained  in 
19  counties. 

The  Cherokee  Indian  Normal  School  stands  by  itself 
and  presents  a  unique  and  difficult  problem.  This  so- 
called  normal  school  has  three  regular  teachers  and  a 
part  time  music  teacher,  and  an  enrollment  of  151  pupils, 
with  4  above  the  seventh  grade.  The  main  building  is  a 
dilapidated  frame  structure  of  four  classrooms  and  an 
auditorium.  There  is  also  a  dormitory,  with  places  for 
24  students,  completed  in  1916;  this  provides  the  prin- 
cipal and  teachers  with  comfortable  quarters,  but  there 
has  never  been  but  one  boarding  student.  As  a  public 
school,  the  Cherokee  Normal  is  doing  an  excellent  service, 
although  recently  crippled  by  the  diversion  of  $500  of 
its  meager  fund  of  $3,100  to  the  public  school  at  Chapel; 
as  an  institution  to  train  Indian  teachers  for  the  3,000 
Indian  children  of  the  state,  it  is  a  failure. 

Finally,  there  is  need  of  a  change  in  the  management 
of  state  teacher  training  institutions.  When  teacher 
training  institutions  are  well  established  and  their  main 


126        Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

purpose  can  not  easily  be  subordinated  to  local  interests, 
it  may  be  well  enough  for  them  to  have  separate  local 
managing  boards.  Even  in  such  instances,  there  should 
be  uniformity  in  the  size  of  the  managing  boards,  length 
of  term,  and  method  of  appointment.  The  state  board 
of  education  should  appoint  the  respective  local  board 
members,  and  also  have  final  approval  of  the  teacher 
training  courses  offered.  When  teacher  training  insti- 
tutions are  small  and  local  interests  can  easily  divert 
them  from  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  maintained, 
it  is  contrary  to  the  best  interests  of  the  state  to  place 
their  management  in  the  hands  of  local  boards.  To  the 
end  that  the  minor  normal  schools  may  be  rigorously 
held  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  are  maintained  and 
to  the  specific  work  allotted  tbeai  in  a  general  and  unified 
teacher  training  program,  we  would  recommend  that 
the  local  managing  boards  of  the  Appalachian  Training 
School,  the  Cullowhee  Normal  and  Industrial  School, 
of  the  three  colored  normal  schools  (Winston-Salem, 
Ehzabeth  City,  and  Faj^etteville) ,  and  of  the  Cherokee 
Indian  Normal  School  be  abolished,  and  that  the  general 
management  of  these  schools  be  vested  in  the  state  board 
of  education,  with  an  able  and  competent  supervisor, 
working  under  the  state  superintendent,  in  direct  charge. 
It  is  a  simple  matter  of  legislation  to  improve  the 
administration  of  existing  teacher  training  institutions, 
but  to  carry  out  the  teacher  training  program  outlined 
above  is  a  large  task,  which  can  not,  for  financial  reasons, 
if  no  other,  be  accomplished  at  a  single  stroke.  The 
general  assembly  of  1921  should,  we  believe,  confine  its 
efforts  chiefly  to  enlarging,  strengthening,  and  redirecting 
the  work  of  existing  institutions  and  providing  more 
liberally  for  county  summer  schools  and  high  school 
training  departments.  In  addition,  provision  should  be 
made  for  the  establishment  of  at  least  one  normal  school 
of  the  type  suggested,  which  would  admit  students  of 


Better  Trained  Teachers  127 

less  than  high  school  preparation  and  train  them  for 
teaching  in  the  rural  schools.  Though  one  additional 
normal  school  will  not  meet  present  needs,  it  is  probably 
all  that  can  be  undertaken  now.  Other  similar  schools 
should  be  established  in  the  near  future,  and,  indeed, 
they  must  be  established  if  the  rural  schools  are  to  have 
well  trained  teachers. 


X.     BETTER  FINANCIAL  SUPPORT 

OUR  educational  progress  is  obviously  conditioned 
on  more  liberal  financial  support.  There  is  not 
a  branch  of  the  system  that  does  not  require 
larger  expenditures.  More  money  is  needed  for  grounds, 
buildings,  and  equipment,  more  money  to  lengthen  the 
school  term  and  broaden  school  programs,  more  money 
for  teachers'  salaries,  more  money  for  teacher  training 
institutions,  more  money  for  administration  and  super- 
vision— how  much  more,  no  one  can  tell.  One  thing  is 
certain — it  will  require  more  than  three  times  the  present 
amount  even  to  bring  present  expenditures  up  to  the 
country-wide  average,  ^  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  good  schools  can  be  maintained  more  cheaplj^  in 
North  Carolina  than  elsewhere. 

Some  doubtless  feel  that  public  school  tax  burdens  are 
already  heavy  enough;  in  isolated  instances  they  prob- 
ably are,  but  in  the  state  as  a  whole  public  school  taxes 
are  low.  Surely  our  state,  fourth  in  agriculture  and 
eleventh  in  the  amount  of  internal  revenue  and  in- 
come and  excess  profits  taxes  paid,  will  not  much  longer 
permit  itself  to  be  ranked  near  the  bottom  in  public  school 
education  and  in  public  school  efficiency.  Others  may 
think  that  recent  progress  has  been  so  great  as  to  leave 
little  to  be  done  to  raise  our  schools  to  the  level  of  the 
very  best.  Our  recent  progress  has,  indeed,  been  rapid 
and  gratifying,  but  the  progress  of  other  states  has  been 
equally  rapid,  leaving  us  in  1918  practically  in  the  same 
relative  position  among  the  states  educationally  as  in 
1890. 


'The  country-wide  average  current  expenditure  per  pupil  enrolled  was,    in  1917- 
1918,  $30.91;  for  North  Carolina,  S8.49.    The  country-wide  average  outlay  for    new 
buildings,  grounds,  etc.,  was  $5.71;  in  North  Carolina,    $1.83.     (Bulletin    No.  11, 
1920,  Bureau  of  Education,  page  67) 
1128] 


Better  Financial  Support  129 

The  financial  support  of  the  public  schools  is  derived, 
first,  from  the  state  literary  fund.  This  comprises  an 
interest-bearing  principal  of  about  $1,300,000.  Since 
1903,  the  literary  fund  and  current  interest  therefrom, 
with  the  exception  of  $2,000  appropriated  annually 
for  schoolhouse  plans,  has  constituted  a  revolving  build- 
ing loan  fund,  from  which  the  state  board  of  education 
makes  loans,  at  a  low  rate  of  interest,  to  boards  of  educa- 
tion of  the  less  favored  counties,  for  the  erection  of  school- 
houses.  No  better  use  could  be  made  of  this  permanent 
fund  than  to  employ  it  in  financing  new  school  buildings, 
and,  if  possible,  it  should  be  increased  by  legislative 
appropriations. 

The  principal  of  this  fund  has  always  been  held  sacred, 
at  times  under  most  trying  conditions,  but  it  is  still  true 
that  any  general  assembly,  if  so  minded,  might  dissipate 
it.  Dr.  Joyner  called  attention  to  this  fact  in  1903, 
saying:  "The  use  of  this  sacred  fund  for  any  temporary 
purpose  would,  as  I  see  it,  be  a  drive  against  past,  present, 
and  future  generations."  It  is  of  course  improbable  that 
the  fund  will  be  diverted  from  its  proper  use.  There 
would  be  an  advantage,  however,  in  so  amending  the 
constitution  as  to  make  the  principal  inviolable. 

All  other  financial  support  comes  from  public  school 
taxes,  including  special  school  district  taxes,  county  school 
taxes,  and  a  state  school  tax,  and  from  minor  appropria- 
tions from  the  general  treasury,  and  from  fines  and  for- 
feitures which  go  to  the  counties.  The  returns  from  the 
state  school  tax,  levied  on  all  the  taxable  property  in  the 
state,  make  up  the  state  public  school  fund,  and  it  is  of 
this  that  we  wish  to  speak  in  particular. 

The  state  pubhc  school  fund  amounted,  in  1919-1920, 
to  $3,500,000.  What  is  left  of  this  fund,  after  deduct- 
ing minor  appropriations  for  medical  inspection  and  free 
dental  clinics,  rural  libraries,  agriculture,  the  state  board 


130        Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

of  examiners,  teacher  training,  etc.,  is  apportioned  among 
the  counties  and  cities  to  provide  a  six  months'  school. 

The  minor  appropriations  from  the  state  pubHc  school 
fund  are  in  certain  instances  for  selected  activities,  for 
which  the  counties  and  cities  are  primarily  responsible, 
but  in  which  the  state  wishes  to  arouse  special  interest — 
for  example,  medical  inspection  and  rural  libraries. 
In  such  instances  the  state  usually  bears  half  the  cost 
and  the  county  or  city  the  other  half.  In  other  instances 
these  minor  appropriations  are  for  functions  that  properly 
belong  to  the  state — for  example,  the  certification  of 
teachers — and  the  state  rightly  assumes  the  entire  bur- 
den. Ordinarily,  appropriations  for  teacher  training  are 
made  direct  to  institutions  and  from  the  general  treasury. 
The  general  assembly  of  1919,  however,  made  an  appro- 
priation for  teacher  training  from  the  state  public  school 
fund;  placing  this  appropriation  at  the  disposal  of  the 
state  superintendent.  It  has  been  wisely  used  to  organize 
county  summer  schools  for  teachers  and  to  establish 
teacher  training  departments  in  high  schools,  the  state 
sharing  the  expense  with  the  local  authorities.  However, 
to  call  upon  local  authorities  to  share  in  the  cost  of  even 
these  temporary  means  of  training  teachers  is,  we  believe, 
an  unwise  practice.  Teacher  training  is  a  recognized 
state  function,  and  the  state  should  assume  complete 
financial  responsibility  for  it.  The  appropriation  for  this 
particular  work  should  be  large  enough  to  enable  the 
state  superintendent  to  conduct,  wdthout  expense  to 
local  authorities,  a  county  summer  school  for  teachers 
wherever  needed,  and  to  estabhsh  a  high  school  training 
department  wherever  conditions  are  favorable.  Other- 
wise, it  may  be  impossible  to  establish  them  where  con- 
ditions are  most  favorable  and  where  they  can  do  the 
most  good. 

In  apportioning  to  the  counties  and  cities  what  remains 
of  the  state  public  school  fund  after  all  minor  appro- 


Better  Financial  Support  131 

priations  are  deducted,  the  state  seeks,  so  far  as  possible 
(a)  to  equalize  school  tax  burdens,  (b)  to  equalize  school 
opportunities,  and  (c)  to  equalize  efficiency — all  approved 
and  worthy  ends. 

School  tax  burdens  are  notoriously  unequal,  and  arise 
because  the  cost  of  maintaining  schools  is  practically 
uniform  from  city  to  city  and  from  county  to  county, 
whereas  the  taxable  wealth  back  of  each  child  to  be 
educated  varies  enormously  from  city  to  city  and  from 
county  to  county.  Accordingly,  if  the  entire  burden  of 
maintaining  a  six  months'  school  rests  upon  the  respective 
cities  and  counties,  there  will  be  the  widest  differences 
in  the  tax  rates  required  to  provide  the  needed  funds; 
the  rate  in  one  city  or  county  may  be  35  cents,  and  in 
another,  70  cents. 

The  state  attempts  to  reduce  such  inequalities  for  the 
first  three  months  of  a  six  months'  school.  It  apportions 
from  the  state  public  school  fund  to  each  county  and  to 
each  city  an  amount  sufficient  to  pay  for  three  months 
the  salaries  of  all  teachers  of  every  sort,  and  one-half  the 
annual  salaries  of  the  county  superintendents  and  one- 
third  the  annual  salaries  of  the  city  superintendents. 
The  respective  counties  and  cities  have  paid  into  this 
fund  at  the  same  rate  and  in  proportion  to  their  taxable 
property,  and  each  thus  shares  alike  in  it. 

The  state  also  endeavors  to  equalize,  so  far  as  is  prac- 
ticable, the  financial  sacrifice  for  the  second  three  months. 
For  example,  when  a  county  has  levied  a  specified  school 
tax  rate,  which  approximates  the  average  county  rate 
necessary  to  raise  sufficient  funds,  along  with  what  is 
received  from  the  state,  to  maintain  a  six  months'  school, 
and  such  county  finds  itself  unable  to  maintain  its  schools 
six  months,  the  state  makes  an  additional  apportionment 
from  the  state  pubhc  school  fund  sufficient  to  keep  the 
schools  open  the  minimum  term. 

In  thus  apportioning  its  pubhc  school  fund,  the  state 

92468 — 10        ^ 


132        Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

has  this  further  end  in  view — the  equahzation  of  educa- 
tional opportunities.  All  children,  irrespective  of  whether 
they  live  in  Ashe  or  in  New  Hanover  are  now  guaranteed 
at  least  a  six  months'  school.  The  state  can  notj  however, 
stop  here.  In  the  past,  we  have  condoned  intolerable 
differences  in  the  length  of  school  terms.  The  cities 
provided  eight  or  nine  months'  schooling,  some  counties 
seven  or  eight  months',  and  other  counties  only  four 
months';  in  short,  a  child's  educational  opportunities 
varied  according  as  he  chanced  to  live  in  one  place  or 
another.  These  same  intolerable  differences  will  con- 
tinue, unless  the  state  attempts  to  equahze  opportunities 
beyond  six  months,  for  some  counties  will  provide  eight 
or  nine  months,  and  others  "will  be  content  with  six.  A 
part  of  the  old  equalization  fund  was  for  a  time  used  to 
lengthen  the  school  term  beyond  the  constitutional 
minimum  of  four  months,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  a 
part  of  the  state  public  school  fund  might  not  now  be 
similarly  employed,  provided  it  were  sufficiently  increased. 
It  would  probably  be  impracticable  to  attempt  at  one 
stroke  actually  to  equalize  the  length  of  school  term, 
but  a  beginning  should  be  made.  The  limit  of  equahza- 
tion might  well  be  fixed  for  the  present  at  six  and  a  half 
months,  later  raised  to  seven,  and  so  on  until  all  the 
children  of  the  state  enjoy  a  standard  school  year  of  eight 
or  nine  months.  Such  action  would  serve  the  best  inter- 
ests of  both  present  and  future  generations,  and  would 
at  the  same  time  mean  the  gradual  ehmination  of  special 
tax  districts,  the  stumbling  block  to  a  county-wide  special 
school  tax  and  to  the  development  of  efficient  county 
school  systems. 

There  is  a  further  serious  limitation  on  present  prac- 
tice. The  state  makes  no  distinction  between  elementary 
schools  and  high  schools;  it  assumes  responsibihty  for 
the  salaries  of  the  teachers  of  both  for  three  months, 
and  the  city  or  county,  with  the  exception  noted  above, 


Better  Financial  Support  133 

for  the  period  beyond  three  months.  Owing  to  the  greater 
cost  of  high  schools,  this  arrangement  works  to  the    edu- 
cational disadvantage  of  the  children  in  the  less  wealthy- 
counties.    To  do  creditable  work,  high  schools  must  have 
a  term  of  at  least  eight  months.     The  expense  of  main- 
taining them  entirely  from  local  funds,  in  most  cases 
for  not  less  than  five  months  and  in  all  for  not  less  than 
two  months,  will  be    extremely  burdensome  to  the  less 
prosperous  counties,  and  particularly  to  those  requiring 
an  additional     apportionment  to  maintain  their  schools 
six  months.     Many  counties  will  not  undertake  it.     As 
previously  pointed   out,   39   counties   are  now  without 
standard  high  schools  of  any  kind,  and  85  have  no  stand- 
ard rural  high  schools.     High  schools  are  essential  if  the 
state  is  to  enjoy  enlightened  leadership,  and  if  the  schools 
are  to  have  well  trained  teachers.     If  good  high  schools 
are  to  be  brought  within  the  reach  of  all  children,  the 
state  will  need  to  contribute  more  largely  than  now  to 
their  support.    On  the  basis  of  the  best  practice  elsewhere, 
it  will  need,  at  least  for  the  present,  to  contribute  not 
less  than  half  of  the  total  instructional  cost,  and  in  the 
poorer  counties,  after  they  have  done  their  full  financial 
duty,  as  much  more  as  is  necessary  to  maintain  a  stand- 
ard school.    The  special  session  of  the  general  assembly 
of  1920  wisely  put  the  state  superintendent  in  a  position 
to  initiate  this  policy  in  a  Hmited  number  of  cases.  How- 
ever, if  its  high  school  support  is  increased,  it  will  be 
incumbent  upon  the  state  to  exercise  a  more  watchful 
care  over  the  establishment  and  location  of  high  schools, 
the  length  of  high  school  term,  the  quality  and  number  of 
teachers  employed,  programs  of  study,  and  the  quality 
of  work. 

The  present  use  of  the  state  public  school  fund  tends 
also  to  equalize  differences  in  school  efficiency.  These 
are  as  glaring  as  the  differences  in  length  of  school  term 
and  school  tax  burden.     Up  to  a  six  months'  term  the 


134        Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

less  prosperous  counties  are  now  able  to  employ  well 
qualified  teachers.  They  are,  however,  at  a  disadvantage 
when  they  seek  to  pay  higher  salaries  than  the  state 
shares  in,  and  particularly  so  when  they  attempt  to 
extend  the  school  term  beyond  six  months.  Neverthe- 
less, that  the  less  prosperous  counties  are  now  prac- 
tically on  a  plane  of  equality  for  even  six  months  with 
the  more  favored  counties  is  a  tremendous  educational 
advance. 

The  state's  assumption  of  one-half  the  salary  of  all 
county  superintendents  works  to  the  same  end.  But 
here  again  the  less  prosperous  counties  will  ordinarily 
be  heavily  handicapped.  Even  half  the  salary  of  a  com- 
petent superintendent,  along  with  his  incidental  expenses, 
is  a  heavy  burden  to  many  of  them.  Educational  efficiency 
is  impossible  without  proper  leadership.  Appreciating 
this  fact,  the  state  superintendent  has  interpreted  the 
equahzation  provision  of  the  six  months'  school  law  as 
extending  to  county  superintendents.  Accordingly,  he 
has  assisted  the  several  counties  beyond  one-half  of  the 
superintendent's  salary  in  the  same  proportion  as  the 
respective  counties  participate  in  the  equalization  fund 
to  maintain  a  six  months'  school.  Competent  superin- 
tendents are  thus  brought  more  nearly  within  the  reach 
of  all  the  counties,  and  educational  inequalities  are  thereby 
further  reduced. 

For  precisely  the  same  reasons,  supervisors  should  be 
placed  on  the  same  basis  as  superintendents.  That  is, 
the  state  should  pay  a  like  proportion  of  the  salary  of 
at  least  one  supervisor  for  each  county  having  fifty  or 
more  teachers,  and  of  one  supervisor  for  each  two  adjoining 
counties  having  respectively  less  than  fifty  teachers. 
Thus,  to  bring  within  reach  of  all  the  counties  at  least 
one  strong  supervisor  would  do  more  than  any  other 
single  step  to  quicken  and  inspire  the  teaching  body 
to  improve  classroom  work. 


Better  Financial  Support  135 

The  present  uses  of  the  state  public  school  fund  are 
thus  eminently  sound.  However,  fully  to  equalize  school 
tax  burdens,  school  opportunities,  and  school  efficiency 
is  the  work  of  years.  In  the  meantime,  provision  should 
be  made  for  the  next  step.  The  state  public  school  fund 
should  be  so  increased  as  to  make  possible  the  estabhsh- 
ment  of  county  summer  schools  and  teacher  training 
departments  wherever  needed,  to  provide  more  effectively 
for  a  uniform  system  of  high  schools,  to  provide  all  coun- 
ties with  capable,  trained  superintendents  and  with  at 
least  one  supervisor,  and  to  provide  for  equaUzing  the 
length  of  the  school  term  up  to  six  and  a  half  months. 
These  increases  are  in  addition  to  those  that  will  be 
required  to  meet  the  necessary  increase  in  teachers' 
salaries,  to  enlarge  and  improve  present  teacher  training 
nstitutions,  to  establish  at  least  one  new  normal  school, 
and  to  equip  properly  the  state  department  of  education. 

Finally,  there  should  be  a  state  school  budget.  At 
present  it  is  almost  impossible  to  tell  what  the  state  appro- 
priates from  its  general  treasury  and  what  it  raises  by 
state  taxation  for  public  education.  The  various  financial 
provisions  and  appropriations  are  scattered  in  a  score  or 
more  of  laws  and  in  as  many  places.  If  a  single  educational 
budget  is  not  feasible,  there  should  at  least  be  a  budget 
for  the  state  board  of  education  and  for  all  activities  and 
institutions  under  its  control. 


The  foregoing  pages  have,  it  is  hoped,  placed  before 
the  people  of  North  Carohna  a  just  account  of  the  educa- 
tional facilities  and  needs  of  the  state.  Progress  depends 
in  the  last  analysis  upon  two  factors:  (1)  the  willingness 
of  the  people  to  look  at  the  problem  in  a  large  way, 
considering  it  not  from  the  selfish  standpoint  of  a  single 
district,  or  even  a  county,  but  rather  from  the  point  of 


136       Public  Education  in  North  Carolina 

view  of  the  state  taken  as  a  whole;  (2)  the  wiUingness 
of  the  people  to  pay,  up  to  the  measure  of  their  actual 
abiUty,  for  the  improvements  that  have  been  recom- 
mended. With  a  few  words  on  each  of  these  topics 
this  volume  will  be  brought  to  a  close. 

The  State  of  North  Carolina  is  a  unit.  In  the  long  run 
what  is  best  for  the  whole  state  will  prove  to  have  been 
best  for  its  component  parts.  For  many  years,  general 
state-wide  improvement  could  hardly  have  been  effected; 
separate  steps  had  therefore  to  be  taken — a  step  in  advance 
here,  another  there.  There  has  been  so  much  special 
legislation  that  the  state  is,  educationally,  broken  up  in 
ways  that  practically  prevent  harmonious  or  uniform 
state- wide  progress.  In  consequence,  our  present  condi- 
tions are  irregular  and  at  times  unfair.  The  time  has  come 
when,  without  unduly  disturbing  what  has  been  any- 
where accomplished,  conditions  should  be  established 
which  will  make  it  possible  not  only  for  progressive 
communities  to  advance  still  further,  but  for  backward 
communities  to  join  them  at  the  front.  Are  the  people 
of  North  Carolina  so  in  earnest  that  a  combined  move- 
ent  of  this  kind  is  practicable? 

If  so,  after  securing  appropriate  legislation,  what  can 
be  accomplished  becomes  largely  a  question  of  money. 
Education  is  not  cheap.  It  is  expensive  and  it  is  every 
day  becoming  more  expensive.  But  let  it  not  be  for- 
gotten that  education  is  the  most  profitable  investment 
that  a  state  can  make.  Wealth  flows  into  the  states  where 
the  tax  rate  for  education  is  relatively  high,  not  into  the 
states  where  it  is  relatively  low.  "Too  poor  to  maintain 
schools?  "  cries  out  one  of  the  greatest  of  North  Carolina's 
sons,  "The  man  who  says  it  is  the  perpetuator  of  pov- 
erty. It  is  the  doctrine  that  keeps  us  poor.  It  has  driven 
more  men  and  more  wealth  from  the  state  and  kept 
more  away  than  any  other  doctrine  ever  cost  us." 


Better   Financial  Support  137 

Our  suggestions  involve  large  expenditures;  but  the 
state  can  afford  them.  As  our  educational  facilities 
develop,  our  wealth  will  increase;  we  shall  be  able  to 
spend  more  still  in  training  the  children  of  the  state. 
Breaking  the  vicious  circle  of  poverty  and  ignorance, 
we  shall  have  started  a  beneficent  circle  of  intelligence 
and  efficiency. 


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